Image Ethics: The Moral Rights of Subjects in Photographs, Film, and Television (Communication and Society)

This pathbreaking collection of thirteen original essays examines the moral rights of the subjects of documentary film, photography, and television. Image makers—photographers and filmmakers—are coming under increasing criticism for presenting images of people that are considered intrusive and embarrassing to the subject. Portraying subjects in a "false light," appropriating their images, and failing to secure "informed consent" are all practices that intensify the debate between advocates of the right to privacy and the public's right to know. Discussing these questions from a variety of perspectives, the authors here explore such issues as informed consent, the "right" of individuals and minority groups to be represented fairly and accurately, the right of individuals to profit from their own image, and the peculiar moral obligations of minorities who image themselves and the producers of autobiographical documentaries. The book includes a series of provocative case studies on: the documentaries of Frederick Wiseman, particularly Titicut Follies ; British documentaries of the 1930s; the libel suit of General Westmoreland against CBS News; the film Witness and its portrayal of the Amish; the film The Gods Must be Crazy and its portrayal of the San people of southern Africa; and the treatment of Arabs and gays on television. The first book to explore the moral issues peculiar to the production of visual images, Image Ethics will interest a wide range of general readers and students and specialists in film and television production, photography, communications, media, and the social sciences.

Over the past quarter century, dramatic technological advances in the production, manipulation, and dissemination of images have transformed the practices of journalism, entertainment, and advertising as well as the visual environment itself. From digital retouching to wholesale deception, the media world is now beset by an unprecedented range of moral, ethical, legal, and professional challenges. Image Ethics in the Digital Age brings together leading experts in the fields of journalism, media studies, and law to address these challenges and assess their implications for personal and societal values and behavior.Among the issues raised are the threat to journalistic integrity posed by visual editing software; the monopolization of image archives by a handful of corporations and its impact on copyright and fair use laws; the instantaneous electronic distribution of images of dubious provenance around the world; the erosion of privacy and civility under the onslaught of sensationalistic twenty-four-hour television news coverage and entertainment programming; and the increasingly widespread use of surveillance cameras in public spaces. This volume of original essays is vital reading for anyone concerned with the influence of the mass media in the digital age. Contributors: Howard S. Becker; Derek Bousé, Eastern Mediterranean U, Cyprus; Hart Cohen, U of Western Sydney; Jessica M. Fishman; Paul Frosh, Hebrew U of Jerusalem; Faye Ginsburg, New York U; Laura Grindstaff, U of California, Davis; Dianne Hagaman; Sheldon W. Halpern, Ohio State U; Darrell Y. Hamamoto, U of California, Davis; Marguerite Moritz, U of Colorado, Boulder; David D. Perlmutter, Louisiana State U; Dona Schwartz, U of Minnesota; Matthew Soar, Concordia University; Stephen E. Weil, Smithsonian Institution's Center for Education and Museum Studies. Larry Gross is professor and director of Annenberg School of Communication at University of Southern California. John Stuart Katz is professor of English and film studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Jay Ruby is professor of anthropology at Temple University. Together, they edited Image Ethics: The Moral Rights of Subjects in Photography, Film, and Television (1988).

Over the past quarter century, dramatic technological advances in the production, manipulation, and dissemination of images have transformed the practices of journalism, entertainment, and advertising as well as the visual environment itself. From digital retouching to wholesale deception, the media world is now beset by an unprecedented range of moral, ethical, legal, and professional challenges. Image Ethics in the Digital Age brings together leading experts in the fields of journalism, media studies, and law to address these challenges and assess their implications for personal and societal values and behavior. Among the issues raised are the threat to journalistic integrity posed by visual editing software; the monopolization of image archives by a handful of corporations and its impact on copyright and fair use laws; the instantaneous electronic distribution of images of dubious provenance around the world; the erosion of privacy and civility under the onslaught of sensationalistic twenty-four-hour television news coverage and entertainment programming; and the increasingly widespread use of surveillance cameras in public spaces. This volume of original essays is vital reading for anyone concerned with the influence of the mass media in the digital age. Contributors: Howard S. Becker; Derek Bousé, Eastern Mediterranean U, Cyprus; Hart Cohen, U of Western Sydney; Jessica M. Fishman; Paul Frosh, Hebrew U of Jerusalem; Faye Ginsburg, New York U; Laura Grindstaff, U of California, Davis; Dianne Hagaman; Sheldon W. Halpern, Ohio State U; Darrell Y. Hamamoto, U of California, Davis; Marguerite Moritz, U of Colorado, Boulder; David D. Perlmutter, Louisiana State U; Dona Schwartz, U of Minnesota; Matthew Soar, Concordia University; Stephen E. Weil, Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Education and Museum Studies. The internet: big pictures and interactors / David D. Perlmutter Professional oversight: policing the credibility of photojournalism / Dona Schwartz News norms and emotions: pictures of pain and metaphors of distress / Jessica M. Fishman Instant transmission: covering Columbine's victims and villains / Marguerite J. Moritz Privacy and spectacle: the reversible panopticon and media-saturated society / Larry Gross Daytime talk shows: ethics and ordinary people on television / Laura Grindstaff Copyright law and the challenge of digital technology / Sheldon W. Halpern Fair use and the visual arts: please leave some room for Robin Hood / Stephen E. Weil Digital technology and stock photography: and god created Photoshop / Paul Frosh Computer-generated images: wildlife and natural history films / Derek Bousé White and Wong: race, porn, and the world wide web / Darrell Y. Hamamoto The advertising photography of Richard Avedon and Sebastião Salgado / Matthew Soar Indigenous media: negotiating control over images / Faye Ginsburg 'Moral copyright': indigenous people and contemporary film / Hart Cohen Family film: ethical implications for consent / John Stuart Katz Afterword: digital image ethics / Howard S. Becker and Dianne Hagaman. Preface......Page 6 Foreword: Images, Ethics, and Organizations......Page 12 Contents......Page 20 1. Introduction: A Moral Pause......Page 22 2. The Tradition of the Victim in Griersonian Documentary......Page 53 3. Direct Cinema and the Myth of Informed Consent: The Case of Titicut Follies......Page 77 4. Access and Consent in Public Photography......Page 110 5. Ethics and Professionalism in Documentary Film-making......Page 127 6. Ethics and the Perception of Ethics in Autobiographical Film......Page 138 7. Images as Property......Page 154 8. A Study in Multiple Forms of Bias......Page 182 9. The Ethics of (Mis)representation......Page 207 10. Perspectives on the Television Arab......Page 222 11. Hollywood Markets the Amish......Page 239 12. Out of South Africa: The Gods Must Be Crazy......Page 255 13. Lesbian and Gay Documentary: Minority Self-Imaging, Oppositional Film Practice, and the Question of Image Ethics......Page 267 Selected Annotated Bibliography......Page 292 List of Contributors......Page 400 This collection of essays examines the moral rights of subjects portrayed in documentary film and television. Contributors question whether photographers and film-makers can properly justify their actions, and whether minority and ethnic groups are being fairly and accurately represented. A collection of essays on the moral rights of the subjects of documentary film and television. It examines the conflicts between the subject's right to privacy, the public's right to know, and the film-maker's right as an artist.