Photojournalism Ethics

This study discusses photojournalism ethics in portraying photographs of children in Tanzanian media. The study is guided by gatekeeping and semiotic theories. The authors used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine photojournalism ethical practices with regard to how children's photos are presented in Tanzanian newspapers and readers' perceptions regarding how children's photos are portrayed in Tanzanian media. Content analysis was to examine Habari Leo, the Guardian. and Uwazi newspapers published photographs from 1st May, 2017 to 31st May, 2018. The results showed that 591 out of 12,316 photos published by all the three newspapers were photographs of children. The results revealed that some media outlets published children's photos contrary to the ethics of photojournalism, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. In order to improve photojournalism ethical practices, the authors suggested the use an approach base in classical philosophy by photojournalists.