Founded as St. Louis Journalism Review in 1970
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.
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.
St. Louis Beacon political reporter Jo Mannies accepted the John Michael McGuire Lifetime Achievement Award from United Media Guild on Jan. 25. Mannies was honored for more than 30 years of covering politics and policy in an intrepid, unbiased way. McGuire, a longtime and beloved feature writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, died in 2009.
Perhaps no media outlet gives Rex Sinquefield better treatment than KTRS radio in St. Louis. Not only does the station regularly feature one of Sinquefield’s “experts” to talk about tax policy, when Sinquefield was interviewed on a “McGraw in the Morning” program, the person asking the questions was an employee of one of Sinquefield’s enterprises.