Photojournalism and Ethics
News photography from history to deadline: wires, staff and freelance work, news values, breaking news, picture stories, sports and events, transmission, IPTC metadata and content credentials, captions and verification, the NPPA, SPJ and CAJ codes and generative AI, Charter press freedom, source protection, publication bans and Quebec image rights, trauma-informed practice, safety and a capstone picture story.
PHOT-320 Year 3 3 credits 12 lessons · 5 h 39 min
Offered by HSM University · Photography
This is the Canadian version of this course. See the American version.
What you'll learn
- Define photojournalism, its genres and the history of wire services, picture magazines and digital news in Canada and the United States
- Describe the news photography ecosystem of staff, contract, freelance and citizen photographers, wires, agencies and platforms, and how money flows through it
- Apply news values to choose and plan stories while recognizing bias and covering communities fairly
- Cover breaking news safely and effectively, respecting perimeters, framing from a distance and gathering accurate information
- Find, gain access to, shoot, edit and sequence features, picture stories and photo essays without staging
- Photograph sports and events, calculating motion blur and coverage and anticipating peak moments
- Run a deadline workflow from capture to transmission, with ethical adjustments, IPTC metadata and content credentials
- Write accurate, complete captions in professional style, verify images from others and handle corrections
- Apply the NPPA, SPJ and CAJ codes and agency rules on staging, manipulation and generative AI
- Explain the laws that protect and limit photojournalists in Canada or the United States, including access, sources, courts, privacy, defamation and copyright
- Work with trauma-affected people using informed consent, plan for safety in hostile environments and manage personal trauma risk
- Price and manage freelance work and complete a captioned picture story that applies the whole course
Course content
12 lessons · 5 h 39 min total · final exam
- 1 What photojournalism is and where it came from 30 min · quiz
- 2 The news ecosystem today: wires, staff and freelance 28 min · quiz
- 3 News values and story selection 27 min · quiz
- 4 Covering breaking and spot news 29 min · quiz
- 5 Features, picture stories and photo essays 27 min · quiz
- 6 Sports and event photojournalism 28 min · quiz
- 7 Working to deadline: editing, transmission and metadata 27 min · quiz
- 8 Captions, accuracy and corrections 29 min · quiz
- 9 Ethics codes, manipulation and AI-generated images 27 min · quiz
- 10 Law for photojournalists in Canada 28 min · quiz
- 11 Trauma, consent and safety 28 min · quiz
- 12 Careers, business and capstone picture story 31 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
News photography from history to deadline: wires, staff and freelance work, news values, breaking news, picture stories, sports and events, transmission, IPTC metadata and content credentials, captions and verification, the NPPA, SPJ and CAJ codes and generative AI, Charter press freedom, source protection, publication bans and Quebec image rights, trauma-informed practice, safety and a capstone picture story.
Part of the Film & Photography stream, typically taken in year 3.