2009.08.21
Should we publish photos that exhibit dangerous behavior?
"How stupid can the Times be," read the subject line of the e-mail.
It captured the intensity of the reader’s complaint about a feature photo we published showing a 13-year-old Roanoke boy jumping off of a second-story stairway onto a trampoline.
"Why on earth would your newspaper put something out there that exhibits such dangerous behavior," the reader wrote. "Your paper should be promoting safety as much as possible, not encouraging foolish, dangerous behavior that can cause serious injury or worse."
Jumping onto a trampoline from one story up is a recipe for a trip the emergency room. I wouldn’t want either of my daughters trying it.
However, the decision on whether we acted irresponsibly in publishing the photo isn’t clear cut.
Here’s a bit of background on the image that ran in the Virginia section on Saturday, Aug. 15.
Photographer Kyle Green was driving home one evening when he spotted the friends goofing off while jumping on the trampoline in their 13th Street Southwest neighborhood.
"I thought it would make a nice feature photo, kids having fun in the summertime heat," he said last week.
As Green captured the scene, some of the kids climbed the steps to the landing between the first and second stories of the house. One-by-one, they leaped to the trampoline below.
No one was hurt and Green told me later it seemed like it wasn’t the first time they had jumped from the stairway.
"I wouldn’t have photographed a situation where I thought the kids were putting themselves in mortal danger," Green said.
We only received this one complaint about the photo. But the e-mail critic raises an issue we deal with a few times each year.
We’ve gotten complaints in the past when we have published photos of a child riding a bike without a helmet, a pregnant mother smoking, a teenager jumping off a bridge into the Cowpasture River or a man mowing the lawn while carrying a child.
A few readers criticized us last month for running a front page photo of adults jumping off the rock embankment known as the Cliffs into Smith Mountain Lake. The story with the photo explained how public safety officials were cracking down on what had become a popular summer activity. Anyone caught jumping off the Cliffs could be ticketed, with potential penalties of up to a $2,500 fine and a year in jail.
We had several newsroom discussions about whether to publish the Cliffs photos, which featured people breaking the law (though you couldn’t identify anyone) not just engaging in a dangerous activity. The news value of the story — and the fact that the photos helped show the reader that this was a common problem — guided our decision not to just run the photo but to feature it on the front page.
The trampoline photo was different. There was little traditional news value to the image. Our editors recognized that many people would find such behavior dangerous, but there was little discussion about the image before it was published on Page 9 of the news section.
I wasn’t involved in the decision to publish the photo — and I wish there had been a wider conversation about it — but after talking with editors and photographers for this column, I’ve concluded that I would have signed off on running it.
It’s a compelling image that captures the joy and frivolity of the scene. It also features a moment of everyday life that’s sometimes missing amid the institutional-oriented coverage in our pages.
As editors, we have a responsibility in selecting and editing the photos we publish. There isn’t one rule to guide us. Most ethical decisions in journalism are situational and should be made only after thoughtful discussion.
Sometimes that means not running photos — whether it’s because they are too gruesome or offensive or because they portray a subject unfairly. Many times, though, we need to step aside and show life in our community, imperfections and all, as it happens.
What’s your take? Are we irresponsible when we run images showing people engaging in dangerous or even illegal activities? How should the news value of photos influence our decisions?
Michael Stowe, managing editor
It never ceases to amaze me at the lack of intelligent, sophisticated common sense of people. Number one, that the photographer doesn’t see it and the editors accept it.
And now even worse that Mr. Stowe Condon’s it! He said he only received one letter being critical of the photograph. Well I’m sure there are hundreds of readers out there like myself who see the “error of your ways” but have come to accept it that, given the history of having complained about past photo’s showing dangerous activities, nothing we say makes a difference.
Many injuries on trampolines come from children and all who bounce off to the ground. Smart, caring parents would not let their children jump on trampolines without a safe net around them, yet you make no mention of that fact and find this behavior acceptable.
Would the photographer or any editor let your children do this? If the answer is no, then you should not have published the photo.
E. Duane Howard
Comment by E. Duane Howard — August 23, 2009 @ 11:36 am
What a pity, here we have a bunch of kids, it is summertime and they are having fun and the paper is agonizing over whether or not to publish the picture. Our society has done it best to take the living out of living. We are require to have helmets on bikes, we can't swing in a swing unless it has the right "safety" material underfoot and the list goes on and on. Yes, I am for protecting kids, people from harm, but we cannot be afraid to do things. This country was built by people that tried things, some of them crazy and dangerous, but look where it got us. Jumping into water is fun and yes, there is a certain amount of risk. But the little bit of risk is outweighed by the risk of a lawsuit. Only in America is protecting ourselves from legal action more important than allowing ourselves to have fun. Kids will be kids, regardless of age and we should let them be kids. Dirt isn't bad stuff, jumping off a roof into a trampolene isn't bad, jumping into a lake isn't bad,it is fun, and preventing us from doing it or preventing from printing or showing it is bad. Lighten up America, stop living in fear, these kids jumping off the roof sure aren't letting fear get in the way.
Comment by Richard Cox — August 23, 2009 @ 1:26 pm
The photo was a great summer shot... when it ran I told commented that you had just set yourself up for some opportunist to have their kid jump off something and sue the newspaper for "influencing" their behavior.
I enjoy your photographers work.
Comment by Rose Kiser — August 23, 2009 @ 4:30 pm
First off, I would say kids jumping off balconies, roofs or stairways onto or into anything is usually a recipe for injury. That said,one has to wonder if those who object so vociferously against a photographer and it's newspaper publishing this photograph has ever ridden a bike at a young age without training wheels or their parents holding onto them for safety's sake? Heaven forbid those that attempted such lunacy would push the envelope so far as to pave the way for mankind to jump from airplanes, helicopters or cliffs! Going to the moon and landing?! Are they nuts?! Kudos to Kyle Green for capturing a daring young man pushing the envelope and larger applause for the editorial staff for thoughtfully discussing and publishing the photograph knowing that the usual flat earthers would start braying. Some just can't abide sunshine if it doesn't always track their path.
Comment by Butch Johnson — August 23, 2009 @ 10:37 pm
I could not care less about the photographer's decision to take the picture or this newspaper's decision to print it. The real issue here is where are these children's parents/guardians?
Comment by Pat — August 24, 2009 @ 11:27 am
"Would the photographer or any editor let your children do this? If the answer is no, then you should not have published the photo."
Sorry Mr. Howard but I don't think it's the RT's job to toddlerproof the world.
Anyone with sons knows that boys don't need a newspaper picture to give them ideas like this. This sort of behavior is boy bread-and-butter.
Comment by Kristen — August 24, 2009 @ 4:40 pm
when i was a kid we used to jump off the roof on to the Ground for fun.
then we got a trampoline. . .
i say publish even more dangerous photos...like people driving cars!!
....without seatbelts...*gasp*.
taking risks is part of everyday life, growing up, and most importantly, learning.
Comment by John — August 25, 2009 @ 9:05 am
Kristen & John:
John says, “Taking risk is part of everyday life, growing up and most importantly learning. In general, John you are correct, but, using a piece of equipment without its common sense safety net around it may very well lead to taking risk to the point you will grow up crippled or not at all. We wear our seat belts because we know the odds are in our favor to protect us and our precious cargo of kids.
I’m blessed to enjoy this summer with having three boys in my care, 4, 7 and 10. They like going to the top of the side walk and come flying down, be it on a tricycle, big wheel or whatever these toys are. They have no brakes except for the power to drag and use their feet to stop. They are constantly starting this activity with no shoes on. They are taking risk which I could ignore and wait till one of them tears up his foot and winds up in the Emergency Room. Do I not, as a responsible adult have the obligation to teach them to avoid injury by wearing their shoes? They are still at risk of crashing or falling off. Yeah, I could require them to wear knee pads, elbow pads, a helmet, but one has to look at what is the most probably at risk of injury and act accordingly.
A trampoline is all about bouncing and the most logical; common sense injury is bouncing off to the ground. Is sustaining a broken neck and living the rest of your life in a wheel chair a risk parents should allow children to take?
E. Duane
Comment by E. Duane Howard — August 30, 2009 @ 3:14 pm