Case Study One
On October 3, 2016 news broke that Kim Kardashian West had been held at gunpoint in Paris, France. According to several media outlets, five masked men dressed up as police officers broke into Mrs. Kardashian West’s Paris residence and tied her up to lock her in a bathroom. After being gagged and tied up, the robbers managed to steal several of her expensive valuables. Hours after the robbery had occurred, MediaTakeOut.com reported that Mrs. Kardashian West had faked and lied about the whole robbery. Days after the robbery, she decided to sue MediaTakeOut for libel as they had published three articles which had attacked her character, as they had suggested that her robbery was a publicity stunt. Mrs. Kardashian West and the media outlet ultimately reached a settlement in which they published a retraction claiming that she was actually robbed.
Case study written by Genisse Aguilar
Weaver, H. (October 25, 2016). “Kim Kardashian settles lawsuit.” Vanity Fair. Accessed June 30, 2017 from http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2016/10/kim-kardashian-settles-lawsuit-with-mediatakeout.
SEA Analysis
1. What are the three most significant facts of the case?
Kim Kardashian West reported a robbery.
The MediaTakeOut website wrote that West lied about the burglary.
West sued the media outlet.
2. What are three facts you would like to know about the case?
Did a burglary actually take place?
What is the credibility of the reporter for MediaTakeOut?
What were the terms of the settlement?
3. What is the ethical dilemma related to the case?
Economic influences.
4. Who are the moral agents and what is each person’s specific role-related responsibilities?
MediaTakeOut: Report and publish news stories.
5. Who are the stakeholders and what is each person’s specific role-related responsibilities?
Kim Kardashian West: Maintain celebrity status and business and be a wife and a mother.
6. What are the possible positive and negative values of all the moral agents and stakeholders named in Steps 4 and 5 and the two most opposite values from all the lists?
MediaTakeOut: Haste, indiscretion, creativity.
Kim Kardashian West: Vanity, ambition, honesty.
Most opposite: Haste vs. honesty.
7. What are the loyalties of the moral agents and stakeholders named in Steps 4 and 5 and the two most opposite loyalties from all the lists?
MediaTakeOut: Website.
Kim Kardashian West: Herself, her family, her business.
Most opposite: Website vs. West.
8. For each of the six moral philosophies used in this book describe either a justification or a criticism that can be applied to a moral agent or a stakeholder named in Steps 4 and 5 in the case study.
Golden rule: MediaTakeOut agreed to a settlement in order to prevent further grief from the story.
Golden mean: Other media entities should have made sure the reporting from MediaTakeOut was accurate before including the story in their daily coverage.
Hedonism: MediaTakeOut clearly wanted to generate publicity for its own website.
Categorical imperative: When threatened, Kim Kardashian West must defend herself.
Utilitarianism: Kim Kardashian West used the lawsuit to educate journalists to report the truth.
Veil of ignorance: MediaTakeOut managed to accomplish an astounding feat – for the general public to feel empathy for Kim Kardashian West.
9. What creative and/or credible alternatives could resolve the issue?
Creative: Use a time machine to warn Kim Kardashian West of an impending burglary.
Credible: Make sure the facts are correct before publishing a story.
10. What would you do as a member of the media?
If pressured by an editor at MediaTakeOut to write a sensational, false story, I would pass on the assignment and start looking for another job.
Case Study Two
Journalists often claim that their calling is to shine light into dark places and to give voice to those who have none. But some stories are especially hard to tell, and some voices need to speak for themselves. This is especially true of refugees, many of whom have lost almost everything: their homes, their countries, their professions, sometimes their families. They are starting their lives all over, often in transit, with nowhere to call home.
In response to this dilemma, British photographer Beatrice-Lily Lorigan and the NGO “The Refugee Info Bus” handed out 40 disposable cameras to refugees (mostly Sudanese) in Calais, France, and asked them to document their experience. They hoped the photographs would help outsiders to understand their experience, the terrible conditions they had to endure, and the shared nature of human experience. Among the collected photographs include a lost teddy bear, refugees lined up for food, and a painted sign that read, “Mother, Father, I hope I see you again.”
Case study written by Stephanie A. Martin
“Refugees in Calais tell their stories through photography.” (February 8, 2016). Observers. Accessed June 30, 2017 from http://observers.france24.com/en/20160802-calais-refugees-tell-stories-through-photography.
SEA Analysis
1. What are the three most significant facts of the case?
A mission of journalism is to give voice to the voiceless.
Still cameras were given to refugees.
The amateur photographers mostly made pictures of personal objects.
2. What are three facts you would like to know about the case?
How were the refugees chosen?
Were the refugees offered any photographic training?
How were the images displayed?
3. What is the ethical dilemma related to the case?
Privacy. Did the photographers give consent on how their images would be used?
4. Who are the moral agents and what is each person’s specific role-related responsibilities?
Beatrice-Lily Lorigan: Create and run the project, process images.
“The Refugee Info Bus”: Fund the project, arrange for publicity, arrange for a display.
5. Who are the stakeholders and what is each person’s specific role-related responsibilities?
The refugees: Accept cameras, take pictures, give images to organizers.
6. What are the possible positive and negative values of all the moral agents and stakeholders named in Steps 4 and 5 and the two most opposite values from all the lists?
Beatrice-Lily Lorigan: Understanding, education, reputation.
“The Refugee Info Bus”: Understanding, education, awareness.
The refugees: Curiosity, communication, trust, naivety.
Most opposite: Education vs. naivety.
7. What are the loyalties of the moral agents and stakeholders named in Steps 4 and 5 and the two most opposite loyalties from all the lists?
Beatrice-Lily Lorigan: Refugees, project, herself.
“The Refugee Info Bus”: Project, itself.
The refugees: Project, themselves, family members.
Most opposite: Beatrice-Lily Lorigan vs. refugees.
8. For each of the six moral philosophies used in this book describe either a justification or a criticism that can be applied to a moral agent or a stakeholder named in Steps 4 and 5 in the case study.
Golden rule: Allowing the refugees to communicate their world through images might have helped them to overcome their adversity.
Golden mean: Rather than take pictures, Beatrice-Lily Lorigan gave the refugees a voice through their pictures.
Hedonism: If donations were given, did any of the proceeds go directly to the refugees and their families?
Categorical imperative: An NGO is charged to help groups of people when government agencies are slow to offer assistance.
Utilitarianism: By showing the world the images taken by the refugees a better understanding of their plight is communicated.
Veil of ignorance: Others may look at the subject matter of the images taken and see familiar objects (teddy bear) that communicates empathy for the refugees.
9. What creative and/or credible alternatives could resolve the issue?
Creative: Give each refugee $1,000 for participating in the project regardless of whether their pictures are used.
Credible: Make sure each photographer knows how and why an image is used.
10. What would you do as a member of the media?
I would make sure the refugee photographers could keep their cameras and offer long-term photographic training to those who wish to pursue a career in the profession. I would also make sure that those taking pictures are known individually and not as the collective term, “refugees” so that those viewing the images would think of each person’s exclusive journey toward safety. In addition, text accompanying each image should include the photographer’s story.
Case Study Three
One of the downsides of the digital age are declining newsroom budgets. There simply isn’t as much money for good journalism as there used to be. One of the things that has been cut is money for photography. Especially hard hit has been money for in-depth photography and photo essays of ongoing stories – pictures of things like the ongoing effects of famine, war, or disease, for example. In response, some photographers have begun to partner with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who are often also working in these same spaces – groups like Doctors Without Borders – who will sometimes sponsor individuals to take pictures of what’s happening. While this is helpful and makes it possible to get and share the story, it also violates journalist norms and creates a conflict of interest.
“The problem is that we say we will not work for Shell Oil because we don’t like their policies, but in the same breath, we have become the spokesperson for NGOs,” explains Stanley Greene, a photographer who Doctors Without Borders sponsored to take pictures of a hospital they were operating in Dhaka, Bangladesh. “But let’s be real – there’s only two kinds of people that go to conflict zones and places in crisis and that’s the NGOs and the journalists. We’re in bed with each other. You can’t operate without them. Any conflict, any crisis, you’re going to have to deal with an NGO. That’s just fact.”
Case study written by Stephanie A. Martin
Estrin, J. (November 19, 2012). “Photography, video and visual journalism.” Accessed June 30, 2017 from https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/when-interest-creates-a-conflict/.
SEA Analysis
1. What are the three most significant facts of the case?
Declining newsroom budgets.
Little coverage of traditional, documentary-style stories.
NGO funding for coverage of various crises around the world.
2. What are three facts you would like to know about the case?
What is the overall effect of the decline of newsroom budgets?
Has there actually been a decline in photojournalism stories?
Are NGOs the only source for visual reporters?
3. What is the ethical dilemma related to the case?
Credibility: Do those who control the funding also control the message?
4. Who are the moral agents and what is each person’s specific role-related responsibilities?
Visual reporters: Find stories, report in words and pictures, process accounts, arrange for presentation venues.
NGOs: Provide aid to those in dire situations, hire visual reporters, clearly specify missions and goals of the project.
5. Who are the stakeholders and what is each person’s specific role-related responsibilities?
Sources of the stories by photojournalists: Let photographers conduct interviews and take pictures.
Readers, viewers, and users: Take the time to review thoroughly the work provided by the visual journalists.
6. What are the possible positive and negative values of all the moral agents and stakeholders named in Steps 4 and 5 and the two most opposite values from all the lists?
Visual reporters: Altruism, communication, self-aggrandizement.
NGOs: Truth-telling, awareness, fund-raising.
Sources of the stories by photojournalists: Honesty, truth-telling.
Readers, viewers, and users: Attentiveness, thoroughness, consideration.
Most opposite: Truth-telling vs. self-aggrandizement.
7. What are the loyalties of the moral agents and stakeholders named in Steps 4 and 5 and the two most opposite loyalties from all the lists?
Visual reporters: Themselves, sources of stories, NGOs, profession.
NGOs: Itself, those they help, journalists, donors.
Sources of the stories by photojournalists: Themselves, their families.
Readers, viewers, and users: The publication.
Most opposite: Sources of the stories by photojournalists vs. donors.
8. For each of the six moral philosophies used in this book describe either a justification or a criticism that can be applied to a moral agent or a stakeholder named in Steps 4 and 5 in the case study.
Golden rule: Showing others in dire situations may be unsettling for many.
Golden mean: Concentrating photographic coverage on the success stories is better than words alone or the worst cases.
Hedonism: Are visual reporters working for themselves, their pictorial sources, or the NGOs.
Categorical imperative: NGOs should show the good work they are going in order to secure a constant revenue stream.
Utilitarianism: Journalists educate the public with their stories.
Veil of ignorance: If the pictures show universal moments in peoples’ lives, readers, viewers, and users will see themselves and be emotionally moved to care.
9. What creative and/or credible alternatives could resolve the issue?
Creative: Sponsor a concert by U2 within a refugee camp and get Bono to give food to those in need.
Credible: Make sure the journalists hired are not aware of the sources of funding.
10. What would you do as a member of the media?
Allow the journalists to cover any aspect of a story in order to improve the level of credibility with the general public.