When journalists take photos of people without their knowledge, they usually talk with them. They explain the subject of the story in question and get their names and other information for captions.
But that contact is not always possible. The photo could be showing a crowd at a Padres game or at the beach. But even when the picture involves only one person, getting identification is not always doable. Take the swimmer at La Jolla Shores who was photographed passing over a school of harmless leopard sharks. The swimmer was not identified, and no wonder. The photo was shot from a helicopter on the way to another assignment.
There also was no identification with one of two July 31 photos with a story about multitasking. Taken by a photographer who pulled off the freeway, the picture, snapped as cars whizzed by, showed a woman driving while using a cell phone.
Upon recognizing herself, the woman, Martha Acosta, a nurse who is active in the community, called the Union-Tribune. Acosta, who said she does not want to sound hypersensitive, was startled to see herself and questioned how she would be perceived by others. She did not want to appear to be, as she put it, “the typical blonde bimbo on a cell phone talking to her friend about the Nordstrom sale.” She said she happened to be checking her voice mail when the photo was taken. “It wasn’t that it looked like me.” said the Rancho Bernardo mother of four. “It was me.”
Acosta said it was unsettling to realize her picture could be taken without her knowledge and that someone could put any caption they wanted with it. What if the photo had been taken of someone buying liquor to illustrate a story about alcoholism, she asked.
“We would not do that,” said Robert York, senior editor for visuals. He explained Union-Tribune ethics would not allow a photograph taken without the person’s knowledge to be used in a negative situation. In fact, standards for publication of photos taken of people without their knowledge receive much more scrutiny, he said.
Acosta’s photo was with the New York Times News Service story on the results of a study of brain activity “to compare what happens in people’s heads when they do one complex task, as opposed to two tasks at the same time.” From the study, experts concluded the brain may have a problem focusing on more than one task at a time.
“It was an interesting pairing of today’s lifestyle overlaid with a scientific explanation of how the brain works,” York said. He saw it as neither positive nor negative but as an issue story. Even so, I understand Acosta’s discomfort.
Although the story was illustrated with graphics showing the brain, a decision was made to humanize it with photos of San Diego area residents. There was a front-page photo of a male driver talking on a cell phone, but he was identified. The photographer was in the car with him when he snapped the photo.
Why wasn’t one photo enough? The one of Acosta appeared inside the paper with the continuation of the story that started on the front page. York said it’s the newspaper’s job to mirror the community. Therefore, when he considered the photo that ultimately was used on the front page and the accompanying graphics, he thought the package was out of balance. The only photograph was of a man. “Arguably, there are equal amounts or more (multitasking) being done by women. Were we sending a message that only busy men are forced to juggle a number of duties at the same time? It seemed to me it was not the way to go.”
A photographer was sent to a busy freeway and took a number of photographs. The one of Acosta was selected probably because, as she put it, “it was such a clear picture.” As sharp as the image was, “it was practically impossible to get the individual’s name,” York said.
“We looked at the balance of being able to present this story, vs. not having a name of someone in traffic, and the former carried more weight in the decision.”
York said were he faced with the same set of circumstances again, the outcome would likely be the same.
Although photography is protected by the First Amendment, newspapers don’t always publish everything they have. “We have a responsibility to our subjects and we treat that very carefully,” York said. “That’s why we weigh the competing interests. Nearly always we will side on the safe side of not publishing if we fear violating our ethics and tarnishing how our community sees us.”
