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 do entary 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 do entary 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 do entary 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.
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