Example of Ethical Situation Analysis
1. Situation Definition: When Gregory Marinovich witnessed the murder of a man by a mob he was told to stop taking pictures. He replied that he would stop shooting when they stopped killing the man. They didn't stop and what resulted were some very graphic images that ended up being used by over 50 newspapers. The man was murdered because he was suspected of being a spy. "In all, six photographs were made available by the Associated Press: the suspected spy being led from a train station by five men, dragged down the street, beaten, stoned, stabbed and, ultimately, doused with gasoline and set afire." The newspapers were surveyed and 24 of them used the image of the man being burned or stabbed. One paper ran the stabbing photo on the front page in color. Some newspapers chose not to run the photos at all. Marinovich won the Pulitzer Prize for the controversial photos.
2.Analysis: I tried to use a basic Google search for the images and the one that came up the most showed a man curled up on the ground surrounded in flames and two others in the photo who appear to be part of the mob that ended the man's life. I believe that most people do not want to see something like that when they are reading the paper, but sometimes it takes a powerful image in order to get people to understand what is happening in the world. It is sometimes difficult to have to make the decision on whether or not a photo should be run, and where it should be run. I don't think those photos should have been on the front page, but they deserved to be seen. Another thing is that it can be difficult for photographers to decide when to stop taking pictures. Marinovich was told to stop, but he continued and got award winning photographs because of it.
3.Conclusion: I think the reason people get so upset about certain photographs is because they don't want to believe terrible things happen in the world. That, or they know terrible things happen but they don't want to see it. I think it is important for photojournalists to continue taking pictures past what they think is necessary or when people who have no authority tell them to stop, because news is constantly happening and your next shot could be "the shot."
4. References: http://journalism.indiana.edu/resources/ethics/controversial-photos/a-picture-of-controversy/