KEEP ON SNAPPING
WHAT ETHICAL limits are there on taking pictures in the street? This is a question that’s been bothering NUJ photographers recently
The G20 protests brought home the importance of media freedom to the working of a strong democracy and the part photography plays in that. It is the first demand of the NUJ Code of Conduct that members defend the principles of media freedom.
Taking pictures of newsworthy events is perfectly legal and ethical — no matter what officious police officers or council jobsworths might say. Picture taking in public, particularly if the event is newsworthy, is entirely legitimate
However the Code does have one or two clauses to note. If the subject is in a private place or doing something where a photograph might be an intrusion into private grief or distress the Code does suggest not taking the picture — though, as with other restrictions there is “an overriding consideration of the public interest”.
Using a long lens to snap someone inside their home enjoying an amorous moment with their partner would be to intrude on their privacy, but to take a picture of a government minister doing the same thing in the office with a colleague is in the public interest — especially if the minister has made a big thing about morality or the sanctity of marriage.
The code also warns that we should only obtain photographs (or any other journalistic material) by straightforward means, but here too there is a public interest defence to using subterfuge. Nurse Margaret Haywood who secretly filmed in a much-complained of hospital ward for Panorama did so because it was the only way to get the evidence, and the film was very much in the public interest.