Fresh off our discussion of ethics, Bob Carey points out a story by News Photographer magazine about the alteration of a photo of Kevin Sterne that was sent out by the Associated Press following the Va. Tech shooting. Readers of this blog know that Sterne was the chief engineer of independent student radio station WUVT-FM, and he is recovering from his injuries.

Among the publications which altered the photograph: The New York Post, People, and The Sun (UK). Apparently, the photo editors at those publications feared that Sterne’s genitals were displayed in the photo (the questionnable object was the tourniquet that saved his life). I find it particularly galling that the Sun, known for its Page 3 girls, and the Post, known for gruesome headlines and tabloid stories, were so concerned for their readers’ sensibilities that they materially altered the image to remove a crucial piece of the puzzle.

The slight blurring of the image and the extreme magnification may have helped editors at the New York Post, The Sun in London, and People magazine come to believe that they were seeing parts of the victim’s genitals. So they had the image doctored. Where before there was white or bloody tan content, now only green grass can be seen. The copy of the image they doctored was the one distributed – untouched – by AP.

The Sun in London ran the photograph as their entire front page. People magazine ran the picture twice: once small, on the cover as part of a three-picture combo, and then larger on the inside on page 61.

Chris Dougherty, the director of photography for People magazine, has not returned calls from News Photographer magazine requesting comment. But Col Allan, the executive editor of the New York Post, told The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, “We decided to make a very minor alteration to the photograph of Kevin Sterne being carried out of Norris Hall to protect the wounded student’s dignity but in no way change the news impact of the picture.”

I find that excuse sorely lacking, and agree with John Long of the NPPA:

“The need to be honest with the readers must always trump the needs of being tasteful or being sensitive to personal privacy,” John Long said today. Long is chair of NPPA’s Ethics & Standards Committee and for years has been the voice of the organization on photojournalism ethics.

“Being sensitive to the possible embarrassment of the young victim and digitally removing what might have been seen as his genitals was a noble gesture. However, in so doing People (and the New York Post, and The Sun, and other news organizations who did likewise) created a visual lie. The photograph was no longer an accurate depiction of what the photographer saw and photographed. It was a minor lie to erase that small section of the photograph, but it was a lie nonetheless and all lies damage our credibility.”

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One of the reasons I spent so much time last week watching the coverage of the Va. Tech shootings, and the way the news was handled by the Collegiate Times, is that I was there a mere 7 days before – on Good Friday – talking to CT student editors about adopting a “web-first” mindset for their news operation. One of the sites we talked about was the Daily at the University of Washington and how they covered a campus shooting a few days earlier using updates, video and multimedia.

When I left the CT newsroom, the staff seemed genuinely excited about putting the news web site into the center of their operation. They talked about getting digital cameras and audio recorders and assigning “mojo bags” (my term, not theirs) to senior writers and devoting the fall staff training time to multimedia issues. In short, it looked like they were listening, which is always a good thing for an educator.

Last Monday, they got a bigger test of their commitment to the “web-first” mentality than anyone could have imagined. And they passed – with flying colors. Today, I spoke briefly with Chris Ritter, the online editor for the CT, and he asked for feedback on their coverage. How do you respond to that kind of question? Knowing something of the stress of the situation, the limitations of a student staff, and the paradigm shift that they had been undergoing this semester, I could only suggest some things which – in the grand scheme of things – seemed minor. After all, some people are suggesting the CT should be considered for a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage. All I can say is that I’m honored to have gotten to meet them and talk with them about the future of journalism and their college newspaper.

I’ve asked Chris to write something for this weblog about their experiences over the last week. As soon as I can, I’ll post it here.

All our Va. Tech shooting coverage here.

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Casey Templeton, James Madison alum, was among the people photographing this week at Va. Tech. Here’s a link to his homepage with a slideshow from the tragedy.

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Hokies 4/16, the memorial site set up by the Collegiate Times, has a series of videos from various colleges (and at least one high school) around the country which held memorial vigils in recent days. Go there and scroll down to see videos from George Mason, Nebraska, N. Georgia College and State University, UN-Reno, Mary Washington, and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional H.S.. All of the videos are being shared via YouTube.

In light of recent controversies surrounding the video sharing site, it’s a good reminder that social media isn’t all about copyright violations. More often, it’s about sharing our humanity.

Link to all our previous coverage.

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At this point, the updates are going to be less frequent, but I’m going to again use this post as a pointer to what others are doing in response to the tragedy at Va. Tech. All of our coverage of Va. Tech and the way it has been handled by college media is now in a separate category of the blog (here’s the link). If you have anything to share, e-mail me at scmurley -at- gmail.com.

• List of confirmed dead and list of confirmed injured.
• The Orion of CSU-Chico sent reporters and a photographer to Va. Tech. Full coverage here.
• Daily Arbiter coverage here, here, and here. PDF of the front page.
• The UTEP Prospector’s (weekly) front page (PDF): UTEP front page
• George Mason’s Broadside sent staffers to the Va. Tech vigil Tuesday night. Coverage here.
• The Daily Tarheel had 5 staffers in Blacksburg this week. Find DT content related to the Va. Tech tragedy here. “For Friday’s paper, we will have our mast in maroon and orange,” said Stacy Wynn.
• Indiana Statesman coverage here, here, here and here. (thanks Marcy Shonk).
• NPR story on the Collegiate Times (via Chris Evans and CMA-Listserv).
• “Liberty has a groups of students heading down tomorrow to give encouragement and aid to the campus. We’re sending a reporter and photographer (yearbook staff) and have taken out our trends/current events spread to be “The Day We All Became Hokies”. It features various logos and emblems from schools all over the country who are reaching out to VT.” – Carrie Dunbar.
• Collegiate Times’ Hokies 4/16 memorial project.
• Recent front pages from college newspapers at collegefrontpages.com.
• Collegiate Times’ Thursday edition PDF
• Roanoke Times video of student journalists.
• Meranda Watling on the images used from the insane gunman’s “multimedia manifesto.”:
  “Now, imagine I’m not me, hardened to a lot of news and a lot of horrible things. Imagine I’m 13, scanning the Web and maybe stopping by the newspaper site for a current events assignment for class. Or, worse, imagine I’m one of the parents, siblings, friends of one of the kids who did die at that gun point. On second thought, I really don’t want to imagine it, because I know seeing those photos would be painful.
  I’m not saying don’t show the public. I would have run the video on my newscast. I would have run a photo on my Web site and in my paper. But the one of the gun pointed directly at the camera is going too far, I think.”

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Lots of memorial projects are being offered up in light of the events of this week at Va. Tech. The Collegiate Times is using a WordPress.com site to host Hokies 4/16 as a memorial project.

all of our Va. Tech coverage here.

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Seth Gitner sends a link to a Roanoke.com video about the Collegiate Times staff doing their jobs in the midst of tragedy. Watch and share with your journalism students.

A side note: I know some of these students lost friends in this tragedy, and they are working and trying to keep their grief separate from their duty as journalists. It’s an admirable effort. But they will need time to grieve and heal just like everyone else affected by this. Journalists are not superhuman, they are not automatons. I hope they take the time they need to be human during all this.

All previous coverage here.

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