Learning objectives

  • Understand how awareness impacts a photograph's accuracy

  • Learn to identify barriers to photographic authenticity

  • Evaluate the accuracy of your photographs and captions

  • Engage with critical ethical discussions that are taking place within photojournalism

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Introduction

    • 1.1 Introduction

    • 1.2 Meet the Team

    • 1.3 Learning Objectives

    • 1.4 Pre-Course Survey
  • 2

    Photojournalism Ethics

  • 3

    Awareness

    • 3.1 Awareness

    • 3.2 Awareness of Context

    • 3.3 Developing Contextual Awareness

    • 3.4 Awareness of Assumptions

    • 3.5 Exercise: Challenging Assumptions

    • 3.6 Awareness of Power

    • 3.7 What about objectivity?

    • 3.8 Section Summary
  • 4

    Authenticity

    • 4.1 Authenticity

    • 4.2 Barriers to Authenticity: The Photographer

    • 4.3 Barriers to Authenticity: Others

    • 4.4 Exercise: Identifying Barriers to Authenticity

    • 4.5 Section Summary
  • 5

    Accuracy

    • 5.1 Accuracy

    • 5.2 Editing Photographs

    • 5.3 Editing and Visual Language

    • 5.4 Captioning Photographs

    • 5.5 Exercise: Writing Captions

    • 5.6 Working with an Editor

    • 5.7 Section Summary
  • 6

    Summing Up

    • 6.1 Exercise: Applying Ethical Principles

    • 6.2 Exercise Feedback

    • 6.3 Take Away Questions

    • 6.4 Summing Up

    • 6.5 Next Steps

    • 6.6 Post-Course Feedback

Bonus material

Take advantage of this bonus material when you register

  • Facebook Community Group

    When you enrol in one of the Photojournalism Ethics course modules, you will have access to a private Facebook group where you can work through course material in discussion with other participants.

  • Free 1-to-1 with the Instructor

    If you register for all three modules, you will receive an invite to schedule a free 1-to-1 meeting with Savannah Dodd. During this 1-to-1, you will have up to one hour to share and discuss your work, and to ask any questions you have about visual media ethics.

  • Certification

    When you complete all three modules in the Photojournalism Ethics course series, you will be invited to apply for certification. Certification from the Photography Ethics Centre is an indicator of cultural competence, professionalism, and rigour.

Instructor(s)

Course Instructor

Savannah Dodd

Savannah Dodd, PhD, is a photographer and anthropologist. In 2017, she founded the Photography Ethics Centre with the aim of promoting ethical literacy across the visual media industries. Savannah holds a Practitioner’s Appointment at the Centre for Creative Ethnography at Queen’s University Belfast. In 2023, she delivered a TEDx talk at the university titled “Changing the world with visual media ethics.” In 2020, her edited volume, Ethics and Integrity in Visual Research Methods, was published by Emerald Publishing Group.

Expert Contributor

Tammy Law

Tammy Law documents stories that are reflective of her experiences of being a child of Chinese migrants, and the bubble of Asian/Australianess within which she lives. Tammy regularly contributes to Fairfax Media and works as a lecturer in the School of Communication and Arts at The University of Queensland. Tammy was awarded an Australia Council for the Arts grant in 2017 to establish Fragile Constellations, an online network between photographers from Myanmar and Australia. Tammy is a Representative of the Photography Ethics Centre.

Expert Contributor

David Degner

David Degner is a photojournalist who has mainly been based in Egypt since 2010. Before that, he freelanced in Florida, interned at the St. Petersburg Times, and studied photojournalism and philosophy at Western Kentucky University. His greatest achievement to date is mentoring photographers for Panorama, a platform showcasing the best photojournalistic work from Egypt.