Hey Gang, I've got a really intriguing ethical question for you, and I'm fairly confident it's relevant to educators.
At work last week, I walked past the desk of the sports editor for one of our affiliated weekly newspapers. On top of a pile of other stuff was a photocopy of an image taken by a stringer at a local high school soccer game. A playoff game.
In the shot, one player was on his knees, having just scored a goal that would propel his team to a win in a state quarterfinal game. Another player had rushed over and thrown his arms around his heroic teammate, who turned and, in the moment the picture was snapped, kissed the other player on the cheek.
It was clearly no accident, not a guy with his face smushed against another's. He puckered up. It was a kiss.
It was also a tremendous piece of photo journalism, a captured image bursting with energy and triumphant, exhuberant joy. Beautiful. It had to run in the paper. Didn't it?
Then it hit me. These are high school kids. Two high school boys. In a story that will run in a small suburban weekly.
You make the call. Do you run the picture? And what if it had been taken by a photographer for a high school paper and you're the journalism advisor?
I'm dying to know what you guys think.
5 comments:
Oh I'd run it. Absolutely. Narrow minded folk like myself need to get over ourselves. It sounds like a great photo. The motivation for such an embrace could be any number of things, I've kissed another man before on the cheek as a joke or in congratulations, and I don't think its a big deal. Just some kids celebrating.
Ugh - I just typed a long response and tried to post it but it was lost. :(
So here is the short version.
I would ask the boys in the photo. We have no idea how this picture could impact thier adolescent lives.
Hey that sounds like good advice.
I hate it when the blogger times out on me and I lose I big thought, I hate repeating myself. I guess that's something I'll have to get over to teach effectively, but I try to copy a big post to the clipboard before I hit publish because of that very problem. Sad day.
Juli B said it. Ask the Boys. I say run it. Sports plays slap each other on the ass so why not kiss on the cheek?
When would this get published?
Thanks for the question!
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