By: Toka Mohamed Abdelmonem

EMCCU organized on Wednesday, a seminar entitled "Photo Culture and Ethics", in the presence of a number of journalists and photojournalists, on the sidelines of the seminar EMCCU TODAY had the opportunity to interview Mrs. Zainab Abdellah, Editor-in-Chief of Youm7…  

Do you think photos are more important than words or vice versa?

It is not the matter of which one is the most important but in some situations the photo can be better than a one thousand word because it delivers more meaning and it also gives the journalist the credibility that he was actually there and delivers also the realistic picture to the audience to feel like if they were really there and it also documents the event.

Can you mention in points what you look for in a photo to say if it is ethical or not?

First of all, I must take permission from the source and his acceptance. I shouldn’t have the intention to show a side that doesn’t exist. I should also put myself in people’s place and think would I like to be recorded or photographed. I should consider the rights of victims and accused people. And even if the source is uneducated and don’t know his/her rights I shouldn’t take advantage of him/her. Even if the photo or the event is exclusive, I can’t publish it if I didn’t take the source’s permission or if he refuses.

Can tell us more about “abdulfattah el osary” photo that you mentioned in the seminar as an example? And do you see that publishing this photo is okay with the ethics?

This photo was after the disappearance of El Osary for a while because he went blind in the last play with Ismail Yassin, then the journalist “Ahmed Dawara” from “El Gomhorya” newspaper took a photo for him while he was looking desperate and ill and was living in the basement and he was in delirious state, And about seeing this photo as an unethical or ethical I see yes it is ethical because this photo made people ask again about him and his colleagues went to help him and without this photo he might die without people knowing, so it return on him with benefits and didn’t harm him and this is the rule that the journalists should follow to evaluate whether this photo is ethical or not.
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After the widespread of social media and the development of AI and the Metaverse, do you think this will help us more to control the ethics and guidelines of photos or not?

The social media doesn’t respect the guidelines most of the time, but it can also expose the person to legal accountability. Social media is a “monster” that “can kill or revive people”, so the role of the journalist is to take care of all these aspects and make a wise decision before publishing.

Can you tell us the photo guidelines that “Al Youm 7” follows?

first of all the accused people’s photos shouldn’t be published as long as he hasn’t got the verdict yet. So also, the victims should be taken into consideration. Documents photos can’t be published to keep the privacy of people so that I won’t exposed to legal issues too. Children photos and rape crimes pictures are considered so much to protect them from any harm. Don’t fabricate any photo and don’t choose the wrong angle that shows something wrong or biased one. .