Budding amateur photographers and citizen journalists should not be tempted to become star stalkers says the founder of an amateur photo agency.
Kyle MacRae, whose agency Scoopt represents mobile snappers so they get paid for their work, said there are serious ethical issues at stake.
Following the London bomb attacks and Asian tsunami, news outlets have been keen to exploit mobile snaps and video.
Cameraphone growth has let more people capture events as they happen.
Such hazy snaps usually taken by amateurs who witness events before they hit the headlines are proving valuable to traditional news organisations.
Although Mr MacRae is passionate about the potential impact witness or citizen journalists can have in changing what becomes newsworthy, he said that should not mean people go out deliberately searching for that elusive scoop.
This week, the Chartered Institute of Journalists also warned news organisations against actively encouraging people to do that, adding that people should be paid for their contributions too.
"The real issue here is an ethical issue if a bomb goes off and someone stops and takes a picture instead of helping," Mr MacRae told the BBC News website.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/techn...4746633.stm
Kyle MacRae, whose agency Scoopt represents mobile snappers so they get paid for their work, said there are serious ethical issues at stake.
Following the London bomb attacks and Asian tsunami, news outlets have been keen to exploit mobile snaps and video.
Cameraphone growth has let more people capture events as they happen.
Such hazy snaps usually taken by amateurs who witness events before they hit the headlines are proving valuable to traditional news organisations.
Although Mr MacRae is passionate about the potential impact witness or citizen journalists can have in changing what becomes newsworthy, he said that should not mean people go out deliberately searching for that elusive scoop.
This week, the Chartered Institute of Journalists also warned news organisations against actively encouraging people to do that, adding that people should be paid for their contributions too.
"The real issue here is an ethical issue if a bomb goes off and someone stops and takes a picture instead of helping," Mr MacRae told the BBC News website.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/techn...4746633.stm
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Re: Ethics issue for citizen snappers
Sun, August 14, 2005 - 5:38 PMInterested in the ethics issue, that must always be the case for professional photographers especially in war zones or crisis situations. I'm not sure if I could stand by and shoot, unless I was worried about getting in the way. I was trained as a Civil Defense Rescue Team Leader, so first reaction would be, and has been, to help and push others out of the way that are crowding, but not helping.
On the other hand, based on recent events in London, there are potientially significant benefits in capturing information at a crisis or crime scene. A picture speaks a thousand words and Johnny on the spot can help. I wouldn't be that concerned about people getting carried away taking pics of celebs on their mobiles. At least not until the quality increases dramatically.
