TheOtherView
Opinions from around the country
Firing photojournalist was right decision for Times

With more than 2,000 journalists in the Middle East covering Operation Iraqi Freedom, issues of journalistic integrity — fairness, accuracy and truth — are more pertinent now than ever. One photographer, however, has shown that the quest to get the best story or photograph often causes otherwise ethical people to make career-damaging decisions.

On March 31, the Los Angeles Times published a front-page photo of a British soldier pointing a gun toward Iraqi citizens and ordering them to take cover from possible Iraqi gunfire. After publication, editors noticed that several people in the background of the photograph appeared twice. The photographer, Brian Walski, was contacted, and he confirmed that he had merged two photos taken seconds apart in order to achieve better composition. Walski, who had worked for the Times since 1998, was immediately fired for violating an internal policy that forbids altering the content of news photographs.

The pressure on journalists, particularly photographers, is extremely intense in a time of war. Images carry much more power than words, and it’s the images that people will remember for generations to come. With this in mind, Los Angles Times officials took the right action by firing Walski. He not only altered an image of a historical event, but he also violated the very principles journalists uphold — principles from which photographers are not exempt.

Walski made a mistake that likely will haunt him the rest of his professional career. More tragically, however, the actions of all news photographers covering the war now will be more closely monitored for fear that others also may be altering images. Electronically manipulating an image takes a matter of seconds and little talent. Capturing still images that chronicle history requires patience, skill and innovation. The latter, not the former, is the essence of true photojournalism.

This is a staff editorial from The Lariat at Baylor University. This column was distributed by U-Wire.