Upholding and Updating Ethical Standards

Video and audio reporting

Make it genuine. A journalist gathering video and audio material for a story should try to reflect reality in the same way that a reporter or still photographer does. Shoot and record as unobtrusively as possible. The very presence of the camera influences behavior in front of it, so watch for instances where people are performing for you and seek to capture genuine scenes and sounds. Avoid staging events, whether you direct the staging or whether the people you are shooting are staging their behavior for you. Staging applies to sounds as well as visuals. When you collect ambient sound from a racetrack, ballgame, festival or other event, collect only genuine sound, not sound effects. For instance, collect the actual crack of the bat in a baseball game, rather than having someone hit a few balls so you can record the crack of the bat.

Disclose circumstances. You will not always be able to avoid staging. When this happens, use text or voice to describe the situation accurately, such as saying that someone “demonstrated” or “re-enacted” for reporters how something happened, rather than allowing the impression that you are showing genuine or spontaneous action. In this way, text and voice become like video cutlines, giving context to the actions you show.

Editing digital visual journalism

Video and audio should belong together. Digital technology gives you the opportunity to shoot video and conduct later interviews and edit the video and audio together for effective storytelling. You don’t need to present video with the sounds that occurred simultaneously with the very images on the screen. But you should not present images and audio that do not go together. For instance, you might walk through a disaster scene with a victim, shooting video, and the audio of her voice would be weak, because your microphone was in the camera and she was walking around, pointing out where she was and where she found a member of her family and so on. Then you continue the interview later, with the victim sitting down and speaking more audibly about the disaster. The audio from the sitdown might make fine voiceover with the images of the walk-through, because she was talking about the images you were showing. But those same images with audio of a Red Cross official describing emergency shelter efforts would not be appropriate, especially if the person shown on the video stayed with relatives, instead of in a Red Cross shelter. The audio of the Red Cross official would be appropriate audio for general video of disaster damage or of the emergency shelter, however. This doesn’t mean the person shown needs to be the person speaking. Perhaps you’re doing a story on a court sentencing. If you start with an establishing shot of a member of the victim’s family speaking and then continue with his voice over some video of the defendant entering the courthouse or standing in the courtroom, that’s appropriate because the image and audio content go together.

Consider sequence. Most edits will not require explanation of what happened when. For instance, if you shoot a variety of clips at the county fair, you can edit them together is almost any order without misleading about anything. But a sensitive story may need more thought to transitions. Consecutive clips may give the impression that they happened in immediate sequence, when the truth is that this person wasn’t responding to that person (or whatever). Use text or voice to explain the passage of time or the relation or sequence of events if these things are relevant and are not evident.

Don’t enhance reality. Photography has always reflected reality imperfectly. When a scene is too dark, we use a flash to introduce artificial light and shadows that weren’t there until the photographer intruded. Back in the darkroom days, we used techniques such as burning and dodging to help a photograph better (but still imperfectly) reflect the reality of the scene the photographer shot. Years ago, artists painted on photographic prints to improve the contrast between a person’s hair and the background. However, digital technology gives us the opportunity (and the temptation) to “enhance” photos or videos in deceptive ways. You cross a line when you alter the content of an image – still or video – beyond routine adjustment of brightness or contrast to reflect the actual scene more accurately. This means adding, removing or moving content of an image, changing colors, touching up faces and so on. When you cross the line, you need to acknowledge by labeling as a photo illustration or simulation or by explaining in the cutline or audio what you did.

Think about your music. You’re not producing a movie of the week. You’re covering the news. Light music that fits the tone of a feature story can enhance a video ethically. Using music for dramatic effect in a serious drama may be manipulative or emotional in an inappropriate way. The more serious or sensitive the story, the more careful you should be in using background music. Ask some colleagues to review a video if you have any doubts and discuss whether the music is used appropriately. Be sure someone plays devil’s advocate and asks the tough questions.

Ensure accuracy

Unless you are strictly a videographer, the juggling of video with other duties such as reporting and photography will affect your ability to take notes that provide accurate stories, cutlines and voiceover. This will require some double-checking and verification. Multitasking makes accuracy more demanding, but it is not an excuse for inaccuracy. Video can help you improve your accuracy, though. The truth is that too many reporters don’t quote people accurately. You can use the video to check the quotes in the text. This is especially important if you are using video that uses the same quotes. You don’t want a story and video clip that use what is clearly the same statement, with the wording different in your story. That undercuts the credibility of the story.

Attribution remains important

Plagiarism is no more acceptable in visual journalism than in writing. If you use a clip from a YouTube video or another source, such as clips provided by an agency you cover, you need to attribute. If you use an animation, photo or other visual creation from another source, you need to attribute. Even if you use material of unknown origin that is in the public domain, you need to attribute as accurately as you can and acknowledge that you did not create the content.Acknowledgement can be with text, logo and/or voice.