Today's Miami Herald (Possibly Graphic Photo Inside)

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I hit this harder and more in-depth on my blog, but here is today's front page of the Miami Herald.

Do you run this as-is? Color? Black-and-white? Above the fold?

http://mhpcftp1.herald.com/thursday.jpg

[Spurminator]

I would have run it on the inside in b/w. Obviously you need a photo for the front, but I would have just used a portrait.

I guess they could have also Photoshopped the blood out of the picture, but then you get into a whole other set of ethical problems.

[SpursWoman]

I'd do it in Black & White ... you're not "hiding" the blood running out of his head, but it could also be mistaken for a shadow from the cop's knee....


IMO. :)

[SWC Bonfire]

I agree, they should have gone with a headshot - oh great, there was a bad joke.

[Spurminator]

What I want to know is how they got away with running a picture of a dildo at the bottom of the front page...

[N.Y. Johnny]

Do like the San Antonio Express News put up some bullshit thing on the front and bury that story in the last pages with the Foley's and Macy's advertisements

seriously though i just think in my opinion just run it as it is in color.

[Ginofan]

Wow, they can run that type of photo on the front page? I'd definitely put it on the inside in black & white...

[MannyIsGod]

I don't see the point of running that picture. It serves no journalistic purpose.

Oh, wait. It sells papers.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Wow, they can run that type of photo on the front page? I'd definitely put it on the inside in black & white...

They can run pretty much anything they want as long as it's not obscene (by the community standards).

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I don't see the point of running that picture. It serves no journalistic purpose.

Oh, wait. It sells papers.

Okay. Manny brings up a point.

1. Does the Herald run an increased risk of losing subscribers based on their choice of cover photo?

Yes.

2. Do photos themselves drive sales or could you tie it in with the proximity, celebrity and newsworthiness (happening in the lobby of the newspaper) all in one issue?

[jalbre6]

Well, it DID happen in the Herald's office lobby. If they did want to tone it down on their own behalf it's not like they had to send a photographer half way across town to shoot new pictures.

It doesn't get much more local and hard-hitting than a ex-city commissioner blowing his brains out in your office becuase of a story the alt-paper in town broke on yet another scandal under your watch.

I'd run it the way the same way they did.

[Kori Ellis]

I have a question ... Are their front page photos always in color?

[KEDA]

keep it B&W

put it on the inside page

make it much smaller.


but you know what, the Hearld did just wat they wanted to do with that, they have us talking about it!

[Shelly]

What I want to know is how they got away with running a picture of a dildo at the bottom of the front page...

That's what I was thinking also :oops

[ObiwanGinobili]

It wasn't too incredibly graphic in my opinion.
I would've gone with a smaller version of the pic side by side with a portrait of the guy, front page above the fold.

if that was Mexico City instead of Miami the photg's would've been 2 feet from the poor dude when they snapped that pic and then we would've really had somethign to debate about.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I would have run it on the inside in b/w. Obviously you need a photo for the front, but I would have just used a portrait.

I guess they could have also Photoshopped the blood out of the picture, but then you get into a whole other set of ethical problems.

Yes. Any photoshop of a photo is considered highly unethical as it changes the very nature of capturing the image.

[KEDA]

and do you have a link to this article, I would at least like to read about the dude who took his head off.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

As of right now, the Herald has changed their home page to another photo - it was previously the same photo as the newspaper's front page, but now it is a portrait and grieving people.

http://www.miami.com/images/miami/miamiherald/12246/thumb_149965727354.jpg

[ObiwanGinobili]

side note:
shuttle's fuel tank looks like a ginat red vibrator falling from the sky.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I have a question ... Are their front page photos always in color?

Going off their last week of front pages. Yes.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

and do you have a link to this article, I would at least like to read about the dude who took his head off.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/

Use http://www.bugmenot.com to bypass registration.

[T Park]

i see the invasion of the Frankenfish

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

http://joeruiz47.blogspot.com

I also address a similar situation that The University Star had to go through last year.

[MannyIsGod]

I think the portrait is what should have been run to begin with. It seems FAR more appropriate than the picture they ran. But thats just my feeling.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I think the portrait is what should have been run to begin with. It seems FAR more appropriate than the picture they ran. But thats just my feeling.

That's what you're trying to figure out when this decision comes.

What does your audience think about things like this and does your audience want this?

Like I said, I think it's 50-50 leaning towards "no" that the Express-News runs it the same way.

I don't think they even ran photos of Saddam's sons' autopsies on the front page (I think it was inside with a B&W).

[ObiwanGinobili]

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/APN/507271384&cachetime=3&template=dateline

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Just to answer local questions, here's the Express-News's policy on photojournalism.



PHOTOJOURNALISM
Pictures, whether used to depict news events as they actually happen, to illustrate news that has happened or to help explain anything of public interest, are an indispensable means of keeping the public accurately informed. To that end, photojournalists at the San Antonio Express-News subscribe to these tenets:

1. It is the individual responsibility of every photojournalist to strive for pictures that report truthfully, honestly and objectively. There is a clear difference between news documentary photos and feature portraits and illustrations that are posed or created for a particular story. The same ethical standards that are apply to written stories are applied to news documentary photos, including spot and general news, sports and enterprise feature photos. No photo of a news or live event is to be posed, nor should any attempt be made by the photographer to direct the action.

2. As journalists, credibility is our greatest asset. In documentary photojournalism, it is wrong to alter the content of a photograph in any way (electronically or in the darkroom) that deceives the public. The guidelines for fair and accurate reporting should be the criteria for judging what may be done electronically to a photograph. Any computer correction of a news photo to enhance its reproduction may use only those techniques that have been commonly accepted in traditional chemical darkrooms, including dodging or burning in selected areas of a photo without changing its content, and correction of technical defects, such as scratches, dust marks and color shifts caused by mixed lighting sources. No photographer, artist, copy editor or technician may change the actual color content of any news photo. News photos may not be flopped to face the other way, they may not be stretched or shrunk to fit a layout, and they should not be cropped to present an image that is not supported by facts, or to create an impression or evoke an emotion that is not genuine. File photos should never be represented as live photos.

3. It is clear that the emerging electronic technologies provide new challenges to the integrity of photographic images. In light of this, any photo that is created with computer technology or that is manipulated beyond the guidelines above must be labeled as a photo illustration.

4. In the case of controversial photographs where subject matter includes possible violations of acceptable community standards (such as the inclusion of dead human bodies, grisly crime scenes, genitals, obscene gestures or language), a newsroom consultation group shall discuss the matter. That group should include: the page editor; the photographer, when possible; the director of photography or the photo editor on duty; the top newsroom editor available and the editor of the section in which the photo will appear. The editor of the newspaper shall make the final decision.


http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=3554

[jalbre6]

When was the last time you checked out the Miami Herald, or its website? How many of us knew the name of Miami's daily paper before hearing about this? (I thought it was the Sun-Sentinel, FWIW)

It did its purpose. The front page and story JB47 listed has been on CNN, MSNBC, and HN at least a few times each this morning.

Blood sells, kids.

[Ginofan]

Thanks JB i was just looking for that.

[SpursWoman]

I don't see the point of running that picture. It serves no journalistic purpose.

Oh, wait. It sells papers.



b-b-b-b-b-b-but....freedom of the press, right? We have a right to see it. :spin

[MannyIsGod]

I never said they should be censored. I think we do have a right to see it. That doesn't mean they should have run it.

I have a right to go skipping down the street in daisy dukes and a halter top, but I don't think I should.

[SpursWoman]

I think it was in very poor taste and totally insensitive for his friends and loved ones....but there always has to be someone who feels entitled to all the gory details.



And that someone might just want to see you in Daisy Duke's, too. :lol

[KEDA]

I have a right to go skipping down the street in daisy dukes and a halter top.


Gets dollar bills out of pocket

[Kori Ellis]

When the cops kill someone, the bodies are often shown on the front of newspapers in all their g(l)ory. So, what's the difference in this case? Is it because he killed himself?

If the Miami Herald always runs pictures in color and they didn't just run this one in color to be more dramatic, then I don't really have a problem with the picture. But yes, it sucks for the family/friends.

BaselineBum (I see you in this thread) remember when those bank robbers went on a shooting rampage with machine guns a few years back in LA and the cops shot that one and then (reportedly) let him bleed to death on the street and didn't get him medical attention. That guy's picture was on the front page of the paper for days in a pool of blood.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I think it was in very poor taste and totally insensitive for his friends and loved ones....but there always has to be someone who feels entitled to all the gory details.



Totally for discussion here...

Do you think it would be okay for the four contractors killed in Iraq and hung from bridges shots to be run?

Uday & Qusay's death photos?

Etc.

[blaze89]

Wow, almost similiar to the Bill Dwyer (think that's the name) who blew his brains out in a press conference which lead to Filter writing


"HEY MAN NICE SHOT!"

[Spurminator]

Almost every major newspaper prints the front page in color, so I don't think doing it in B/W was really an option. I think that might have drawn more attention to it, since it's so unusual.

I don't really have a personal problem with the picture, but I question the business sense... I think more people would be outraged by the photo than people who are persuaded to go buy a copy to see a little pool of blood.

[MannyIsGod]

I personally think all photos of this type should be kept off the front page.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I don't really have a personal problem with the picture, but I question the business sense... I think more people would be outraged by the photo than people who are persuaded to go buy a copy to see a little pool of blood.

I agree wholeheartedly.

[bigzak25]

lucky the former comish was a white guy or all hell would break loose.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

lucky the former comish was a white guy or all hell would break loose.

Huh?

http://www.miami.com/images/miami/miamiherald/12246/thumb_149965727354.jpg

[jalbre6]

lucky the former comish was a white guy or all hell would break loose.



Uhhhh.....

http://images.ibsys.com/2004/0826/3684900.jpg

[bigzak25]

man, i didn't realize that was him on the left?

looks like a white guy laying there...oh well, i guess my theory is shit, but wait for it just in case.

[ObiwanGinobili]

How many of us knew the name of Miami's daily paper before hearing about this?


I knew.
and not just becasue I love Dave Barry.

[Kori Ellis]

I knew too. I read sports stories on their website almost every day.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I knew of the paper before this incident. I'm a journalism student. I will admit that I only found out about it very early this morning because of the story on CNN.com.

[Kori Ellis]

JB - Guru of Nothing was looking for a valid email address for you. You should send him a private message.

[mookie2001]

they still cant show (new) pictures of caskets with flags on them being taken off planes from iraq

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

they still cant show (new) pictures of caskets with flags on them being taken off planes from iraq

IIRC, they can show pictures. The media just can't get them.

AFAIK, they are still not allowed to take photos @ Dover AFB. You can get the photos that Dover takes, though. It took about 6-9 months for me to recieve a CD with photos taken by the USAF via FOIA.