M10 - The Ethics of Photojournalism

"The Falling Man"
Image By: Richard Drew

"The Falling Man", a photograph taken by Richard Drew on September 11th, 2001, has become one of the most famous, influential, powerful, and controversial images in human history. The image is composted of 2 buildings in the background, said to be the Twin Towers, and a man diving headfirst mid free-fall. The man seen in the image was never positively identified. He is now known as "The Falling Man" and has been pictured around the world. 

According to an article by Tom Junod on esquire.com, the controversy began when the first plan hit the towers and civilians, photographers, and frost responders rushed to the scene. People were watching in awe as bodies flew from windows atop the destroyed towers. The article quotes a woman speaking to her daughter saying "Maybe they're just birds, hunny".  Even Bill Feehan, a firefighter at a local station, was seen chasing down a man who was video taping the event asking him "Don't you have any human decency?". This is obviously an image can caused ethical dilemmas across the nation. Not only was this one of the worst, if not the worst, and most tragic terrorist attack in our country's history, documenting an individuals decision to end their life is troubling in any situation. 

Image By: Richard Drew

The Photojournalism Code of Ethics, found at https://nppa.org/code-ethics, states "Treat all subjects with respect and dignity. Give special consideration to vulnerable subjects and compassion to victims of crime or tragedy. Intrude on private moments of grief only when the public has an overriding and justifiable need to see.". Because of this specific line i I believe Richard Drew broke the code of ethics by taking this picture. Unfortunately, I think this portion of the code of ethics is broken often. Tragedy is news, and news needs to be reported. 

My Ethics Map

That brings me to my personal code of ethics. My beliefs have been formed by my upbringing as a child, my parents influence, my exposure to the world, events and tragedies i've endured and encountered, and many other variables. Because of these, I consider myself a conservative leaning libertarian when it comes to politics and ethics. I believe strongly in personal freedoms and individual rights. Due to these beliefs, I don't see an ethical problem with the image. The main reason I don't see an ethic issue is because the individual in the image cannot be identified or exploited. The image is used as a symbol of remembrance. He is seen as an unknown soldier to many people involved in the tragedy.