Paul Lester's Photojournalism In The Curious Reader

In every aspect of life, there are values and morals that are followed by people. These values are based on the beliefs of every individual depending on their faith or their culture. These beliefs, over time, became what can now be known as a code of ethics. These ethics are normally accepted around the entire globe and apply to every career or job. One of these jobs, which has always been surrounded in controversy regarding ethics, is photojournalism. Paul Lester, in an excerpt from his book found in the Curious Reader, gives us several explanations of what governs the decision of publishing a controversial photo. In this excerpt, he goes into details of philosophies like the hedonistic philosophy, the golden rule philosophy and the categorical imperative philosophy. Lester also gives us information on how the readers react and how they also influence the decision of publishing a photo or not.
One of the lesser understandable philosophies that contribute in the decision of publishing or not a photo is the hedonistic philosophy. Bersak, in a thesis for MIT, states that “hedonism represents the “do what feels good” school of thought.” What this tells us is that if it is something that will be good for sales, then publish it. Lester

This one basically tells us that we should not do to others what we wouldn’t like to be done to us. In almost every aspect in life, this is the philosophy that should be followed. If someone doesn’t like to be kicked, then that someone shouldn’t kick others. Lester provides us with many examples. One of these examples is the story of the Mother that had three of her children drown. A photographer was told not to take pictures, but still did, until he was basically mobbed by onlookers. The photographer, probably wouldn’t have liked it if that were his children, yet he still took pictures. This golden rule philosophy is the one that should be followed by