Ethics... and Photojournalism - Oxford Study Courses

The July 4th Newsweek cover and news article created by Tina Brown, Newsweek editor, showing Kate Middleton with a middle-aged Princess Diana has caused significant uproar across the Internet. Not only the cover photo has raised serious ethical issues, but the content of the article as well. Fictional details of what Princess Diana’s life would have been like up to now along with a mock-up of her Facebook page have caused considerable controversy across the news media.

The Cover of Newsweek

(images below: http://www.blippitt.com/creepy-newsweek-princess-diana-cover-and-facebook-page-photos/).

This cover certainly provides for considerable discussion and investigation in ITGS classrooms. Some questions that immediately come to mind:

What social/ethical concerns are related to the article?

Who are the primary stakeholder(s) and how are they related to the IT system in the article?

How was IT be used to create the image? Describe feasible step-by-step process(es) that could have been used using appropriate technology.

What is relationship between the IT system referred to in the article and the social/ethical issue(s)?

What are the potential impacts of the social and ethical issues on the relevant stakeholders?

What foreseeable problems relate to the creation and publishing of this image?

What solutions can be implemented so that manipulated images are better controlled? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the various solutions. What professional guidelines exist for ethics in photojournalism?

The news article then continues to suggest that this Facebook page could have been one that Princess Diana would have had today. This opens up even more ethical issues relating to the friends, postings and projected accounts of her life if she had actually lived to be age 50. What a way to commemorate Princess Diana’s 50th birthday on Friday, July 1st!

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