Reuters

“Everything we do as Reuters journalists has to be independent, free from bias and executed with the utmost integrity.”

The Trust Principles are:

1.      That Thomson Reuters shall at no time pass into the hands of any one interest, group or faction;

2.      That the integrity, independence and freedom from bias of Thomson Reuters shall at all times be fully preserved;

3.      That Thomson Reuters shall supply unbiased and reliable news services to newspapers, news agencies, broadcasters and other media subscribers and to businesses governments, institutions, individuals and others with whom Thomson Reuters has or may have contracts;

4.      That Thomson Reuters shall pay due regard to the many interests which it serves in addition to those of the media; and

5.      That no effort shall be spared to expand, develop and adapt the news and other services and products so as to maintain its leading position in the international news and information business.

To work for Reuters one must follow guidelines which apply to all areas of journalist; text, television, photography and online work. Below is the list of Reuters ‘Absolutes’ obtained from their website.

The 10 Absolutes of Reuters Journalism

·         Always hold accuracy sacrosanct

·         Always correct an error openly

·         Always strive for balance and freedom from bias

·         Always reveal a conflict of interest to a manager

·         Always respect privileged information

·         Always protect their sources from the authorities

·         Always guard against putting their opinion in a news story

·         Never fabricate or plagiarise

·         Never alter a still or moving image beyond the requirements of normal image enhancement

·         Never pay for a story and never accept a bribe

Reuters acknowledge that in many cases their photos may extremely explicit. Their photographers must be concerned with capturing reality and not hiding the truth. The result however may lead to imagery which may cause anguish and damage individual’s dignity. They do not masquerade the truth, however they are meticulous of what they publish, as they do not produce with the aim to shock, rather there needs to be a  valid reason for their images and if the images graphic they need to be taken to the Senior Editor who decides their fate. The clientele must be taken into consideration, different markets share different needs and different countries share different cultures and understandings, what may seem offensive in one country may not in another.

Photoshop

The use of Adobe Photoshop is only to format, crop, size and balance the tone and colour. Exceptions may be made for subtle lightening/darkening of zones, basic colour, sharpening and the removal of dust, however these exceptions must for through the Chief/Senior Photographers who will make the final decision on what may or may not be modified.

Technical Guidelines

Cloning, Healing or Brush Tools are not to be used. The single exception to this rule is sensor dust removal. The cloning tool will only be used below the 100 pixels radius setting. Unless performed on a well-calibrated screen under good working conditions we strongly recommend photographers to request dust removal by pictures desks.

Saturation should not be used. It affects image quality and cannot be judged well on a laptop screen and adds nothing more than what can be achieved in levels.

Colour Balance adjustment should be kept to the minimum, especially on laptop screens which tend to have a blue dominance.

Levels should only be adjusted to the start points of the histogram graph on both shadows and highlights.

Auto Levels should not be used.

The Burn Tool in most cases should only used to subtly darken areas that have been overexposed. When the burn tool is used in shadows a visible element of everything that can be seen in the raw file must remain visible.

Highlights and Shadows can be toned by using the selective highlights tool, a feather of 25-30 and then adjusted in curves.

The Lasso Tool should not be used when using a laptop to file pictures. It is essential that great care is taken with this tool to avoid the ‘halo’ effect which is produced when the feathering is too great and the tonal change ‘bleeds over’ into the unselected zone. Likewise, not enough feathering will produce a vivid jagged edge to the lasso area. Typically a feathering setting of between 5 and 20 pixels is used, depending on the size and positioning of the zone. Again we strongly recommend this is handled by desks.

The Eye Dropper can be used on a neutral gray area to set colour. But is dependent on the quality of the computer screen to determine if you are in fact seeing a real gray! Sharpening should be set at zero (0) in the camera. Pictures may then be sharpened by 300% at a radius of 0.3, threshold 0, in Photoshop.

No selective area sharpening should be done.

Third-party Sharpening Plug-ins are not permitted.

Third-party Noise-Reduction Plug-ins should be avoided but are acceptable if Chief Photographers are convinced they are being used properly.

Camera Settings, in particular saturation (and Image Styles in the Canon 5D) should be set to “standard” with the exception of in-camera sharpening which should be turned OFF. The Color setting Adobe RGB is the Reuters standard.

Multiple-Exposure pictures must be clearly identified in the caption and drawn to the attention of pictures desks before transmission.

To Recap

Allowed:

·         Cropping

·         Adjustment of Levels to histogram limits

·         Minor colour correction

·         Sharpening at 300%, 0.3, 0

·         Careful use of lasso tool

·         Subtle use of burn tool

·         Adjustment of highlights and shadows

·         Eye dropper to check/set gray

Not Allowed:

·         Additions or deletions to image

·         Cloning & Healing tool (except dust)

·         Airbrush, brush, paint

·         Selective area sharpening

·         Excessive lightening/darkening

·         Excessive colour tone change

·         Auto levels

·         Blurring

·         Eraser tool

·         Quick Mask

·         In-camera sharpening

·         In-camera saturation styles

Photographers, regardless of staff or freelance, must never re-enact or stage an event. The photographs must always, without fail, capture a reality as it happens. The photographers may use portraits and non-news images which help them delineate a story, however the image must be captioned stating what these images were not taken spontaneously as to not mislead the viewer.

If the media has had an effect on the subject’s behavior and this is apparent in the photography, then this too must be captioned and stated below the image. Photographers must aim at being as unobtrusive as possible as to no influence the events taking place, using long lenses is an appropriate measure.

Images received from outsiders must be passed on and examined for verification by the Duty Editor in Charge, who decides whether or not the images will be published.

“Composite images that show the progression of an event (e.g. lunar eclipse, time lapse) must indicate the technique in their captions. They are never acceptable in a news assignment. Captions must also make clear when a specialty lens (e.g. lens babies, tilt-shift lenses) or a special technique (e.g. soft focus, zooming) has been used to create an image in portraiture or on a features assignment.”

All image captions must be free from bias and accurate. The captions should deliver;

-          Who is in the picture

-          Where is was taken

-          When it was taken

-          What does it show

-          Why is the subject doing a particular thing

The photographer must make no assumptions what so ever. Only information you are sure about must be published. Pictures should never make assumptions about what the subject is thinking.

The photographer must always remain contactable, up until the image is published. Moreover this is because the Duty Editor-In-Charge will come back to the photographer or the Chief Photographer with questions if the caption does not full explain the image.

Caption examples

• An employee of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd shows the media the company’s new 32-Gigabit NAND flash memory card (top) and chip during a news conference in Seoul September 11, 2006. Samsung said it has developed the world's first 32-Gigabit NAND flash memory devices. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (SOUTH KOREA)
• Actress Helen Mirren poses with the Coppa Volpi at the Venice Film Festival September 9, 2006. Mirren won the Best Actress award for her role in director Stephen Frears' movie 'The Queen'. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch (ITALY)
• A man lies dead in the street May 7 after a NATO daylight air raid near a market over the town of Nis some 200 kilometres south of Belgrade. The Yugoslav army took media to show them damage it said the raid caused to two residential areas and a hospital. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan
• Nobel Peace prize winner Wangari Maathai hugs a tree for photographers in Nairobi October 9, 2004. Maathai, a Kenyan, became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the first Nobel given to an environmentalist. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti

• A Mexican soccer fan wearing a traditional sombrero waves his country’s flag at a photographer before a Copa America quarterfinal match against Brazil at Miguel Grau stadium in Piura, July 18, 2004. REUTERS/Henry Romero

When covering people in the news, Reuters journalists:

·         Avoid needless pain and offence

·         Treat victims with sensitivity

·         Eschew gossip about the private lives of public figures

·         Avoid sensationalism and hype

·         Seek clear, unambiguous accounts of the facts

·         Are on alert for spin and other forms of media manipulation

·         Are wary of assumptions and bias, including our own as journalists

Note: All lists and quotes taken off website.

Reference

Unknown . (2009). Handbook Of Journalism . Available: http://handbook.reuters.com/index.php/Main_Page. Last accessed 25th

Dean Wright on Online Journalism Ethics

Dean Wright on the Reuters Handbook of Journalism