Many might not notice that the news-magazine section in book stores are getting filled with more and more various choices of newspapers and magazines. The pressure to win readers is becoming more competitive for each media outlet. Take gossip tabloid as an example. Hollywood magazines prey on celebrities for newsworthy articles or often enough, just their photographs. There are cases where celebrities became the target of paparazzi, who were found responsible for manipulating and publishing their photos to sell their magazines with 'juicier' content that appeal to the readers. One of the latest case was Kim Kardashian's photoshopped picture displaying her fake baby bump published in a US online entertainment site (Gossipcop.com 2011).
Photo manipulation appears to be one of the major ethical issues in visual reporting, or also known as photojournalism. (Patterson and Wilkins 2008). With the advanced digital technologies available today, alteration of pictures can be done instantly by anyone who is familiar with Photoshop or any other photo-editing software. To avoid being deceived, viewers need to be more critical in analyzing news contents that circulate in our existing media today.
Al-Ahram, Egyptian’s daily newspaper was found guilty of committing unethical conduct of photo alteration in its news report. The state-run newspaper published a manipulated photograph of US President Barack Obama walking on red carpet along with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders for the Middle East peace talks conducted in the White House. The original image displays President Barack Obama leading the group by walking in front, whereas the altered picture depicts Egypt President Hosni Mubarak walking ahead from the rest. There was no acknowledgement by the Al-Ahram to address that the image has been manipulated (BBC 2010).
Bauder (2009) stated that in media ethics, journalists must always deliver accurate, impartial and truthful reporting to the public in fulfilling their professional duty. It is arguable that media ownership and advertisers do affect the objectivity of news reporting (Truth Amnesty 2011). Many media outlets are restrained from publishing any reporting that can potentially harm the advertisers or the media owners.
Relating to Al-Ahram case, the newspaper serves the interest of its owner, the Egypt government, instead of disseminating honest reporting for the public. Hence, Al-Ahram’s conduct of photojournalism in the discussed news article is seen as unprofessional and unethical.
The role of existing media today, particularly the mainstream press has somehow turned from watchdog into 'lapdog'.With more giant media corporations abusing their ownership power to control the news content disseminated to the public, media integrity is subject to ethical question.
Bauder, J 2009, Media Ethics, Greenhaven Press, Michigan.
BBC 2010, Egyptian newspaper under fire over altered photo, viewed 8th June 2011, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11313738>
Gossipcop.com 2011, Kim Kardashian "Knock Up" Story Takes The Wrong Angle, viewed 8th June 2011,
Patterson, P and Wilkins, L 2008, Media Ethics: Issues and Cases, 6th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Truth Amnesty 2011, Media Ownership And Control, Viewed 8th June 2011, <http://truthamnesty.com/2011/03/20/media-ownership-and-control/>
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