Here’s an interesting survey by the APME on the use of graphic photos, courtesy of Ryan at Dead Parrots Society. Here’s Ryan’s accompanying article: Readers, journalists struggle with same issues in publishing graphic photos.
Another APME survey to talk about, about the use of graphic photos in the news. This one was especially interesting, I think, because we asked readers and working journalists to take the same survey, giving us numbers and comments to compare. A copy of the original survey is still online, and my report on the findings is online. It probably goes without saying, but the survey contains graphic images, each of which was published by some outlets, and left unpublished by others.
To summarize the report: Both groups were presented with five photos — on subjects including tsunami devastation, American soldiers, and violence in Iraq — and then were asked to describe where (or if) they’d run the photo and why.
The survey is closed and the results available, but try taking the survey yourself and see how your choices stack up against the ones recorded.