Photo Editor for a Day: How Would You Play It?
You are the photo editor of a big city newspaper, and your state's governor has just been named as Client 9, the patron of a prostitution ring. Said governor has just made a public statement. As usual in these cases, the guilty politician is accompanied by his innocent wife, who must stand in front of the cameras to share a disgrace she has nothing to do with. You are discussing with your news editor how to depict this moment on your newspaper's front page. Do you decently crop the women out of the image, allowing her to preserve a bit of dignity? Do you go full on with a photo that captures the woman's pain? Or do you split the difference? Are you responsible for protecting the wife and the injured family of the erring husband? Or is your job to allow your readers to see the full spectacle of this public humbling? Let's here some opinions.--David Schonauer
The real reason Spitzer's wife appeared at the podium is that he needed her to. HE is responsible for her shame and public humiliation, not the photographers or editors. (The NY Post, BTW, had the best combo of picture and headline -- even if it was a lousy pun.) For an astute commentary, see Dana Milbank's column in the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/10/AR2008031002724.html?hpid=topnews
Posted by: Earl | March 11, 2008 at 10:45 AM
She's there to show her support and mitigate the public humiliation of her husband. Leaving her in the photo shows that, if nothing else, he still has the support of the person from whom he deserves it the least.
Besides, if she didn't want to be on public display, she wouldn't be standing at that podium.
Posted by: James | March 11, 2008 at 11:16 AM
it's our responsibility to show reality in what is portrayed right in front of us... even when cropping is allowed in the world of photojournalism, it's still honorable to show the whole situation.
I agree with the previous posts- it shows how strong of a woman she is despite what has happened...
Posted by: Sean | March 11, 2008 at 01:10 PM
That depends on whether you're a tabloid, or a newspaper. The New York Times has it right.
Posted by: Eric Hamilton | March 13, 2008 at 10:05 PM