Over the past decades newspaper codes of ethics seemed to be replaced by corporate mission statements .The Winnipeg Free Press has a very old , very cool Code secretly salvaged over many decades and ownership changes still hanging on a wall .
One of the best past newer mission statements was vandalized in a darkroom setting to read simply ,“Mo Money”.THis was a phrase coined by a famous , gregarious Blue Bomber linebacker referring to the point of post season play. This was a time of healthy profits.
During a tour of premiss by former chain bean counters , I notice them stop to inspect the revises MS. They were not offended at all and I am sure the told others at head office to make sure they passed by the WFP darkroom if they were ever in the neighbourhood.
I had been collecting complaints about newspapers over the years because it seemed like we were making a lot of enemies . And there were no shortage of complainers .
It maybe that the “news angle” has offended just about everyone , a few people a day for decades . Today by adding the long accusation periods and optics to take the place of real stories that list must include so many more . WE have made many enemies and caused many boycotts .
I am sure we may not be able to find seven honest people by our own count by what is displayed in modern media today .
I also attended a news conference put on by an aboriginal self help group that received money to help women victims of violence . On the white board was a hand written list of aboriginal teachings .These Seven Teachings could form the basis of any company's web Mission Statement or any news media's Code of Ethics . It read simply , Honesty , Respect , Wisdom , Courage , Truth , Humility and Love .
The list of complaints about media would take about twenty minutes , skim reading . There is a Hollywood ending .
Why They Accommodate us
Why do they hate us? - They hate , because we make them look funny , we make them look fat , because we sneak around, or just barge in unannounced ,
They hate us because they think our pictures lost their election, AND STILL they “accommodate” us , to get their image in the paper .
They resent the fact that we watch everyone and No watches us.
They accommodate us because their business will fail with a single bad review , or their careers depend on us liking them , or because we are sometimes fickle or we are easily fooled .
They hate us because we show up at their funerals , because we spell their name wrong , make mistakes and blame it on a time frame we set . They sometimes hate us for good reason, or because we are too simplistic . Sometimes being a good story isn’t a good enough reason , or a price too high for causing someone they know to loose their job .
They hate us because we ate the food at press conferences , because we are sometimes poorly led or vindictive , or too Liberal or too Conservative .
They hate us because we are late , or because we leave at the wrong time , because we are too early and we are always in a hurry
Or because we are always thinking about the next thing and the clock , instead of this thing .
They hate us because , we are arrogant , or We don’t always know the rules . They hate us because we have no rules .
We show up like vultures at crime and accident scenes , set up our cameras in a row and joke and B.S. all day while they meticulously record the scene , or put their hands on some families dead loved one , while we impatiently wait. “We just need our shot so we can go”.
They hate us because one of their off duty brotherhood was identified by profession and photo and not just by name , and that resulted in suicide , and they will never forget.
They hate us because we always forget and start again fresh the next day with a slate that has been wiped clean .
They hate us because we don’t respect their uniform , because everything is a joke and we always badly dressed .
When they are experiencing the worst day of their lives , we arrive in packs and run rough shod through their lives like bulls in a china shop and three days later leave without as much as a goodbye.
They hate us because we always have the advantage seeing through a rear view mirror . No matter how nice we seem to be, we are sometimes two faced , sneaky and rude and can’t be trusted .
They hate us because we turn into jerks when things aren’t fast enough or don’t go our way.
They hate us Because “ it’s always about us “, we start every sentence with “ I need “ or because sometimes our motivation is to get to a bigger market in a bigger town and to a bigger paper with more opportunity .
They sometimes they hate us because we go to disasters and volatile scenes of tragedy and photograph emotional pictures.
They hate because they mistake our enthusiasm for bloodlust .
Their hatred sometimes bubbles to the surface and sometimes they , block our view , or verbally abuse us or assault us.
The next day when the pictures run in the paper , governments move , money and resources flow , help is often on the way. A process for change is kick started by the single incident a single picture . Even though sometimes our BOLDNESS brings out the underlying hatred for our craft , EVEN THEY can see that it has done profound good in the end .
Even though we hate to see people in pain , showing their pain brings action. When our readers see people in pain , instead of seeing a negative they see a positive , they are moved to help . Governments, and agencies that needed to be better , find a reason to take immediate action .
Some of them will always hate us , and some of them will see some benefit to the things we do later on . Even though there are times , when some of these things are true they will still accommodate us and hope we move on .
In fact the same can be said for politicians , business people, or anyone with a deadline and something to sell. All to be greeted with a healthy skepticism .
Even though they sometimes hate us for all these things , we don’t have to be this way . We can improve our humanity . We CAN be better , and more open and honest in every way .
Sometimes they love us because we made someone look good , someone look strong , some guilty , some heroic or made someone look smart , they love us because we try to inform , because we don’t try to get it all wrong .
They love when we get it all right, because it brings repercussions , or uncovered some evidence, or simply recorded the scene and that helped them understand what happened when their loved one crashed .
They love us because as a profession we stumble across disturbing seemingly isolated occurrences that turn into trends that will be noticed by the public and forced to be fixed by the manufacturer who already knew there was a problem .
They love us because we got THAT moment absolutely right , because we do things that help , we do things that let other people help , they love us because we cause things to change for the better .
They love us because the poor and powerless sometimes get their say or because we love to go to war , but we never stick with it .
They love us because they can laugh at themselves through our pictures . They love us because we are the only media that will routinely publish corrections when we are wrong.
They love us because we take amazing news and sports pictures in places that have “no light” and no place to stand , and even more amazing picture in places were there is lots of good quality light and access .
They love us because sometimes our pictures cut through all the crap and reveal something that is true or unexpected.
They love us because our pictures take them to places they can’t go but always wondered about .
Sometimes the people who hate us the most , look good in the paper because we really are unbiased , or we are just flawed by a personality defect or just couldn’t remember them after 20 minutes . They love us because of the pictures , the pictures do have something to say , and they love us because we get to push the button and say the things with our cameras they always wished to.
They love us because we do more good than harm and the history is what we record , the way we record it .
They love us because pictures are the heart and soul of media . Pictures last , they say something about a time that would be other wise lost. Pictures start with a subject , but they also have background and foreground . Clothing and hair styles and automobiles that can be dated . In time the importance of the subject will diminish and the background and foreground will gain in importance .
A picture is a straight line from the “thing” to the paper to our readers . Regardless how they feel about us , the straight line has to be respected . Everything we do no matter how negative or painful , or damming , it seems to be at the moment , eventually it leads to a positive result . Laws get changed , building codes change , procedures change , people change .
We have to know when we are working that sometimes people hate us , and sometimes they have good reasons . We have to respect that and still be able to do our job. Knowing these things will make us a better photographers when it counts , and keep us honest without baggage and to never stray far from where we started . We just see and photograph .ken gigliotti
Topic: Why they Hate Us (Accommodate) (Read 1570 times)