Blog Exercise 4 - Ethics

What are the ways readers can judge the credibility of an image even in this era of digital manipulation?
First and foremost i feel that credibility of an image depends greatly on two factors beside the appearance of image itself - the photographer and the publisher. This is where the reputations of the photographer and the publisher comes in. If the photographer has a honest and credible reputation, the credibility of an image will be high. The same goes for the publisher. However, the publisher and the photographer are not mutually exclusive. For example, if a credible photographer publishes his work in a very dodgy publication, the credibility of the image will drop. Same goes for the opposite. Thus in this era of digital manipulation, readers can still uses the credibility of the photographer and the publisher to judge the credibility of an image.

Imagine yourself as a reader representative for a newspaper. What would you tell a reader who complained to you about a picture of a car wreck that was particularly upsetting?
If the victim of the car wreak is related to the reader, i will no doubt offer my condolences first. After that, i will explain to the reader that upsetting the picture may be, but if it serves to remind drivers to drive more carefully and henceforth reduce the number of traffic accidents, be it minor or major, it can be considered as doing a good deed.
I would say something along the lines of
"Think of it this way, publishing the picture helps reduce accidents and hence reduce the number of people that are potentially affected by such an accident. In such a case, would you choose to bear with your emotions for chance that others may not have to go through what you did or would you withdraw the picture and potentially let others suffer the same experience as you?"