As a working small-town journalist, I get my share of what I like to euphemistically call “feedback” when posting breaking news or other generally unpleasant things, so I thought I’d write up something in response to various epithets of “monster”, “vulture” or the like.
(I’m fully cognizant of the fact that none of this actually precludes me from being a monster or a vulture, but I thought I’d post it anyway. It was originally in the form of a Facebook comment. Since this is me writing, it’s from a specifically Canadian, small-town, newspaper reporter perspective.)
First off, anyone has the right to film or photograph anyone else if they’re out in public. Full stop. Unless you have a reasonable expectation of privacy, you may end up having your photo taken by anyone at pretty much any time. It’s just the way being outside is.
(Here’s a pretty good summary of what I’m talking about.)
The same thing goes for traffic accidents, etc. There’s nothing legal to stop anyone (professional media or otherwise) from taking photos at the scene of any accident and disseminating them. That’s exactly why you see small crowds of (usually the same) people gathering around when an accident happens in a more built-up area, snapping away, either to try to sell later or just for their own idiosyncratic reasons. So no, the media does not *have to* get permission from police/fire/EMS to take pictures or publish them. Nor do we *have to* wait until police have contacted family members to inform them of the tragic news. This latter one is something we simply don’t do, mainly because it would essentially just mean that we never ran any photos from any accident, but more on that later.
Now, I fully acknowledge and agree that “but we’re legally allowed to do this” is a pretty low bar to set, and that’s why nobody at the Daily Observer sets the bar there. What we have to do whenever we respond to any sort of emergency is balance the public’s right to know what’s going on out there with the individual’s right to privacy and respect. I think we do a pretty good job of that.
For me, in cases like car accidents, it means never, ever, photographing anything really graphic (body parts, blood stains, etc); avoiding photographing anything identifiable about the vehicle itself (visible bumper stickers, licence plates, etc); and trying to avoid taking photos that include the injured being extricated or treated at the scene (and if I do, I make sure they’re not identifiable from the photo). Those are in descending order of importance for me. They’re not always all possible, but usually they are. I know that the other people who shoot for the Observer have very similar standards they set for themselves as well.
What I don’t weigh is whether or not there might be someone out there who gets upset at seeing the photo. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is because the world is upsetting, and violent, horrific car crashes are upsetting. If I thought it was morally abhorrent under any circumstance to show images of unsettling things, I wouldn’t be in this line of work.
I don’t work for a children’s book publisher. I work for a newspaper, and my job is to tell people the story of what’s going on in the world. When I get to tell really good, uplifting stories about what’s happening (like the outpouring of generosity from people all over the Ottawa Valley to new and incoming Syrian refugees) I’m very happy that I get to do that. When I have to tell uncomfortable, violent or depressing stories, I do that anyway, because it’s my job.
Despite what a handful of really vocal people out there seem convinced of, nobody in this job (or at least nobody I personally know in this job) genuinely enjoys covering tragedies. That, I hope to most of you, should be profoundly obvious.
The simple fact is that “somebody might be upset by this image/story being printed/published” is not a consideration for us because it can’t be. Someone is *always* upset. Always. No matter what the story is.
The uplifting and joyful stories of people’s giving and generous spirit towards incoming, destitute refugees? Yeah — that upsets people. Mostly racist, scared people, but people. And they’re vocal about it. Stories about Pembroke finally getting a Gay Pride Parade, and photos of people having lots of fun just enjoying being together and living life? That upsets people too, and they’re vocal about it. Stories about politicians (or just regular people) acting inappropriately/ridiculously/illegally? Those *REALLY* upset people — particularly those involved — and sometimes they even pretend they can sue us over it.
We tell those stories anyway.
If we stopped printing and publishing images and stories just because it would upset some people, we might as well just shut down completely, because we’d literally never print anything.
Are photos of a tragic and horrific accident tough to look at? Absolutely.
Is there a chance that, despite my best efforts, someone will see this photo and be able to recognize it as belonging to a loved one before the police have a chance to get in touch with them about it first?
Unfortunately, yes.
Is there a (much greater) chance that someone will have heard about a tragic accident on a major highway, be terrified because they know someone who drives that road all the time, look on our website/Facebook page and feel instant relief because while they can’t tell at all what kind of car it is, let alone who was driving it, they *can* tell that it’s not the car that their son/daughter/wife/husband/mother/father left the house in that morning?
Fortunately, yes.
But all of these things are just natural consequences of having the job of telling the stories that are out there to people.
There are some (maybe even many) out there who are already convinced that I and my colleagues are simply heartless, opportunistic vultures who crave the chance to pounce on other people’s misery. Frankly, I’m fine with people thinking that, because I know that it’s not the case, and I think that most people get that. I also, obviously, know that there are people like that out there. To suggest that nobody in the media industry is terrible would be as ridiculous as suggesting that nobody in any other industry was terrible. IE, very.
Just thought I’d try to shed some light on the process of taking photos like this and putting them out there. Hopefully someone can get some use out of it.
