Visual Ethics addresses the need for critical thinking and ethical behavior among professionals responsible for visual messages in photography and photojournalism, film, and digital media. From the author of Photojournalism: An Ethical Approach, published more than 20 years ago, this book goes beyond photojournalism ethics. It discusses crucial contemporary concerns, including persuasion, stereotyping, global perspectives, graphic design decisions, multimedia production, social media, and more. Written for an ever-growing discipline, authors Paul Martin Lester, Stephanie A. Martin, and Martin Smith-Rodden give serious ethical consideration to the complex field of visual communication.

Paul Martin Lester is a Clinical Professor for the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication at the University of Texas at Dallas. He received a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. from Indiana University. He is the author or editor of several books that include: Visual Communication: Images with Messages, Seventh Edition (2017), Digital Innovations for Mass Communications: Engaging the User (2014), Images that Injure: Pictorial Stereotypes in theMedia, Third Edition with Susan Ross (2011), Visual Journalism: A Guide for New Media Professionals with Christopher Harris (2002), Desktop Computing Workbook: A Guide for Using 15 Programs in Macintosh and Windows Formats (1996) and Photojournalism: An Ethical Approach (1991). From 2006 until 2011 he was editor of the Visual Communication Quarterly, a publication of the Visual Communication Division of the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) published by Taylor and Francis. From 2011 until 2015 he was editor of the AEJMC publication Journalism and Communication Monographs published by Sage. He also co-wrote a monthly column, “Ethics Matters” for News Photographer magazine for the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).

Stephanie A. Martin is an Assistant Professor of political communication in the Division of Corporate Communication and Public Affairs at Southern Methodist University. She is editor of Columns to Characters: The Presidency and the Press Enter the Digital Age (Texas A&M Press). Her work has also appeared in Rhetoric & Public Affairs and Visual Communication Quarterly, as well as in book chapters in several edited volumes. Martin’s research centers on public rhetoric, particularly with regard to the American presidency, popular conservative movements, and rights to dissent in the public sphere. She has also written about hate speech and the ethics of silencing. Martin holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of California, San Diego and an M.A. in Journalism from the S.I. New house School of Public Communication at Syracuse University. Her expert commentary has been featured in the national media, including NPR, the Christian Science Monitor, the Congressional Quarterly Researcher, and the Orange County Register.

Martin Smith-Rodden is an Assistant Professor for Journalism and the coordinator of the Photojournalism Sequence at Ball State University, located in Muncie, Indiana. He holds a PhD in Applied Psychological Science and aMaster of Science in Experimental Psychology fromOld Dominion University (Norfolk, VA). For more than three decades he’s been a photojournalist, photo editor and team leader, as well as being a cognitive psychologist. He’s worked in the Baltimore/Washington, San Antonio (Texas) and Norfolk (Virginia) metro areas. In 2011 he was named Photo Editor of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association’s Best of Photojournalism competition. He was also Region 3 (mid-Atlantic) Photographer of the Year in 1996.