Almost at every turn, the Iraqi war translated into ethical dilemmas for journalists. How much gore do you give readers with their morning coffee? How aggressive are you about covering grieving families whose sons and daughters paid the ultimate price? How do you cover demonstrations in support or against the war?
Below are a few ethical scenarios based on the war with Iraq and a chance for you to play editor. Check one response for each case. Please do not make up your own answers. Feel free, however, to elaborate on a separate piece of paper. The same scenarios will be presented to The San Diego Union-Tribune journalists who will be asked what they would do.
Clip or photocopy the survey and send it to the address below. Or, you mayFAX your answers to (619) 293-1896 or e-mail them to the address below. Ifyou choose e-mail, list each case by number and the letter that correspondsto your answer. If you comment, please include your full name, address andtelephone number. If more than one person takes the quiz, please indicatehow many. And most of all, remember there is nothing scientific about this survey.
CASE NO. 1: The first Marine of Camp Pendleton’s 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion to die in Iraq was Marine Lance Cpl. Jess Surez del Solar of Escondido. The initial story about his death appeared two days later, on March 29. It was accompanied by a poignant letter his father, Fernando Surez del Solar, had written telling his immigrant son: “Wear your American soldier’s uniform with pride, but wear with even greater pride your heritage of an Aztec warrior.”
That article told about his death but said it would be two to nine days before the family would get any details about how he died. As the family grieved, Union-Tribune reporter James Crawley, who was with the Marines, covered a battlefield memorial to the fallen Marine. The story Crawley dictated spelled out how the young Surez was killed; the information was central to the story.
What it didn’t say, however, was if the family had been told about how he died. The Marines didn’t know; they suggested the newspaper check with the Pentagon. The Pentagon refused to provide any information or to even acknowledge Surez had died.
A. You decide against running the story. You do not want the family to find out the details of the Marine’s death from the newspaper.
B. You decide to run the story. It is news. But, because you don’t want the family to be taken by surprise, a phone call is made to tell them the story will be in the paper the next day. That way, if they haven’t been given details, they can make their own decision about whether or not they want to read the story.
CASE NO. 2: While the Union-Tribune and other newspapers sometimes print photographs that have been provided by the military, ethical concerns are raised when photos of American prisoners of war taken by the Iraqi government are made available.
Some editors question whether they should use the news service photos taken from government-controlled Iraqi television. The images show the Americans being abused by their captors, which the U.S. government said is in violation of the Geneva Convention. Some editors are uncomfortable with the propaganda aspects of the images; they would prefer photos taken by independent journalists although it is impossible in this situation.
A. You decide against using the photos of the five POWs being abused. But, you think it is permissible to use head and shoulder shots of them as long as you indicate they are from images televised by the Iraqi government and distributed by the Associated Press.
B. As much as you would like to use photographs of all five POWs, you decide against using those provided by the Iraqis. Instead you use a photograph of one of the families of the POWS. In it, a family member is holding a photograph of one of the captured soldiers.
CASE NO. 3: As a photo editor, you are careful about showing images of dead bodies. However, this is war; death is one of the realities. How can you not show one of the big consequences of war and still give your readers an accurate accounting of what is taking place? Is it permissible to digitally alter photos to minimize the blood and gore? To improve the composition?
A. Technology makes it possible to move mountains. What is the harm of cleaning up a photograph to blur the gore, to make an image sharper, to make the composition better? You think technology is fair game and do not hesitate to use any of the available digital tools to make a better picture.
B. Sure, technology makes it possible to fudge reality and sometimes photo illustrations are used in the newspaper. But the goal of a news photo is to show what happened; it is not to alter photos to change reality. While it is permissible to use photo illustrations that are labeled as such and cannot be confused with candid photographs, it is not permissible to pass off altered images as the real thing.
