Following the revelation last month that 20 percent of images in the penultimate round of the World Press Photo Awards were disqualified on the grounds of excessive digital alteration, the World Press Photo (WPP) and the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) have announced plans for a symposium in late 2015 to discuss ethics in photography.
World Press Photo managing director Lars Boering said any discussion "should be a little bit more than just ethics... it all needs to be discussed, including manipulation, and what the industry thinks is still okay as far as working on the files... And it should go beyond World Press and the photographers as well, because... it's not only the photographers who work on the files but also the art departments as well."
The World Press recently tightened it's rules of entry, requiring photographers to submit original raw files. "Once we started checking the files we found a lot of things. When the technicians were standing there and showing us what they found, we were shocked. Truly shocked. I'm all about trust. But 20 percent [of the finalists] we had to throw out. And the other 80 percent? They were fine. We can trust them."
Boering said most of the images thrown out this year either had things added to, or removed from, the photograph. "It's clumsy Photoshop, and it's too bad because some of the pictures were contenders right up until the end."
It wasn't just a matter of content being added or subtracted, images with excessive toning also came under fire. "They looked to see if you make a photo so black that you lose information, and you don't see anything anymore," said Boering. "That is a line crossed."
Requests by photographers and organisations for the WPP to release the names of the disqualified photographers along with their images have been rejected.
"We can't, because we agreed for it to be confidential," said Boering. "NPPA's statement today calls on them [the disqualified photographers] to make it public if they want to, but I don't think they will because it might be very harmful to them and I don't think people should be punished for making stupid mistakes. It's a difficult lesson, and one they've already learned."
One organisation pushing for more transparency is the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), which has released a press release asking for the disqualified photographers to come forward with their images in an effort to promote discussion and help develop clearer standards.
"The time has come for those photographers whose work was disqualified by World Press to come forward and present their work in the interest of educating the members of the profession and opening further dialog as to the development of ethical standards for the practice of photojournalism," said the NPPA press release.
"The NPPA Ethics Committee does not believe in conducting a 'witch hunt' but we also do not believe that it is in the best interests of any involved in the profession, or in the outside perception of the profession, for matters to remain unresolved. World Press is within their rights to disqualify images as they see fit. They are also within their rights, perhaps even bound by legal precedent, to refuse to release images on their own. This is why the NPPA Ethics Committee strongly encourages those involved to release their images and either stand by their work or admit their transgression, and offer explanation and engage in the dialog about what the standards are and/or should be."
In a separate statement, NPPA president Mark Dolan said that the WPA and NPAA were in agreement that their priority, "should be in making [the symposium] a learning and teaching opportunity for the photojournalism community, and for those who follow and observe us."
Details of the symposium are still being worked out, but it's expected it will take place in New York in September, October or November 2015.
Rescue Operation, Mediterranean Sea, Italy, 7 June 2014. Shipwrecked people aboard a boat are rescued 20 miles north of Libya by a frigate of the Italian navy. After hundreds of men, women and children had drowned in 2013 off the coast of Sicily and Malta, the Italian government put its navy to work under Operation Mare Nostrum rescuing refugees at sea. Only in 2014, 170,081 people were rescued and taken to Italy. More than 42,000 had come from Syria, 34,000 from Eritrea, 10,000 from Mali, 9,000 from Nigeria, as many from Gambia, 6,000 from Palestine, and more than 5,000 from Somalia. Photo by Massimo Sestini.
Photo by Massimo Sestini. General News, 2nd prize singles, Massimo Sestini (World Press Photo Awards 2014).
