David Carson and fellow veteran St. Louis photographer Bill Greenblatt spoke to the St. Louis chapter of Society of Professional Journalists Feb. 14. The pair reviewed the top photos of 2012 and discussed current challenges facing photojournalists. The crowd of nearly 50 met at the Missouri History Museum for the monthly News at Noon event.
Maybe my kids are right and I’m getting more conservative as I get older. Maybe my ACLU buddies have reason to wonder if I’ve strayed from the path of founder Roger Baldwin. Or maybe it’s been too many years since I was in the White House press room. But as I listened this week to the White House press briefing, I was irritated by the press’ attitude that President Obama’s decision to kill any American citizens plotting attacks on the United States was comparable to President George W. Bush’s authorization of the torture of captured al-Qaida operatives.
The use of remotely controlled drones to gather news has stirred interest among a small group of journalism students at the University of Missouri. At the same time, it has raised concerns among some members of the state Legislature, which is considering a bill to prohibit the use of unmanned aircraft to collect information in agricultural areas.
AFP photographer Emmanuel Dunard’s photo of a praying Aline Marie at a Newtown, Conn., church brings up an issue where many photojournalists and members of the public disagree. Marie considered her praying outside the St. Rose of Lima church on the night of the shootings to be a private moment. She says she “felt like a zoo animal” when she realized that a number of photographers from across the nation and world were photographing her. In this and other similar circumstances, photojournalists often seem to think that a good photo trumps a person’s privacy. Accordingly, they often hide behind the “I’m shooting from a public space” rationale to justify their actions. But the “public space” position is a legal argument – and one that most members of the public either do not understand or with which they disagree.
