"The Front Page Frisk"

In Tompkin's article, Sliding Sound, Altered Images, he asks if "How willing would you be to explain your editing process if the local newspaper called you and started asking you questions for a front-page newspaper story? How willing would you be to reveal your editing techniques to the public?" I had to sit back and ask myself this question - how would I critique my own methods of visual/audio storytelling? Are they authentic, portraying my subjects in their natural light, or unethical and staged (like the photographer covering the NFL draft)?

I'd like to go with the former, but as a young, inspiring journalist, it is easy to ask the subject to do something and to attempt to capture what we want to see (even if this is not the full truth). I look back at my camera assignment, I know I asked my subject to show me specific things. As Dave Wertheimer says in his article, this can be fixed by prefacing the soundbite or adding a caption to a photo that says something to the effect of "'We asked so and so to show us how they .......'". This can give subtlely tell the viewer that what they are seeing/hearing may not have been 100%, but as close to it as the journalists can get to showing what they want. Most people will even overlook this hint, but it is more ethical to put the preface in then leave it out.

As I go out to tape my :30 clip tomorrow night, I hope to keep these principles in mind. Rather then telling my subject what to do, I am going to put a wireless mic on her and observe. Another problem is the editing - I hope to never make the mistake KLAS Las Vegas made in Tompkin's article. I definitely see how putting in false audio for a silen survellience video. I know that my ethical dilemmas may not be this large (or on a high market station), but this little concepts remind me that there is always something important to remember in journalism - seek the truth and report it. An unethical impluse may seem like a good idea at the time, but in the end, it won't pass the "Front Page Frisk."