Lester's Ethics

Lester discusses the laws and ethics concerning a number of situations faced by photojournalists. I think there are multiple situations where photojournalism is legal but rather unethical. One circumstance is situations where the subjects are injured or grieving. Apparently, photography of subjects under these circumstances is illegal in other countries despite newsworthiness. Also, I question the ethics of police having the authority to allow photos to be taken of people who have been killed.

I also believe that many of the activities of the paparazzi are unethical. Stalking is not legal, so what they do probably should not be either. I agree with Mundt (professor of photojournalism at Louisiana State University) who proposed that photos should be taken of famous faces only when they are involved in an activity that has “intrinsic news value".

Lastly, it seems logical to me, that people should have some kind of right over their image being published. However, the laws could obviously be more lenient for specific circumstances, but if readily possible, I think the subject should either grant permission or be compensated in some way.