Photojournalism should respect ethics and victims ‘privacy
In a time in which the ways we tell and see stories are undergoing massive changes in format, a conversation about the present and future of photojournalism is not only relevant but also necessary.
The talk show guests said that a photo when taken professionally speaks more than one thousand words
They however disapproved journalists for not following ethics while making their stories to the extent some of the TV stations broadcast photos of victims' faces and other sensitive images.
“I saw a terrible image at one of Rwandan TVs showing the body of a mother who had been burned by the cooking gas, scary pictures even showing her face!!” Said Cyril Ndegeya
He argued media photographers to take into consideration the privacy of victims and respect ethics.
According to professional photographer Jacques Nkinzingabo, a photojournalist should match the photo with the story idea that the media needs and added that the photos of the media should not be edited like that in other events.
They argued that the security services do not understand the importance of photos and often harass journalists by preventing them from taking photos of various issues of injustice.
Through interviews, journalists testified that the police sometimes take their cameras and ask them to delete photos, they are also denied access to take in the courts.
“No photos, delete your photos; who are you to take photos here!” The police officer told me; says one of journalists
Nshimyumukiza Janvier Secretary of the Rwanda Journalists Association says some Rwandan laws are contradictory; the media law stipulates that a journalist's belongings are confiscated only when it is approved by a court, yet the law governing Rwanda Investigation Bureau stipulates that an investigator is allowed to confiscate journalist belongings when conducting investigation.