This Friday, I had the privilege of attending the New England Newspaper & Press Association, or NENPA. I went to two seminars on public record navigation and on libel law that helped me learn about my resources and rights as a journalist.

Photo Review

I also sat down for a photo portfolio review with Bob Holt, a professional photojournalist who taught me how to be a more dynamic visual storyteller. I learned that just as we should strive to answer the who/what/when/where/why/how in our writing, we should also answer those points in our photos. Great photos will combine strong composition to answer at least three or four, while Pulitzer-winning photos will answer 5 or even more. Here’s how some of my photos fit into that framework.

This photo, which I took at a Filipino student culture show, was one of my strongest photos. It is successful because it answers the who/what/where– dancers performing a traditional dance on a stage. It is framed, composed and cropped well. The light and focus is clearly on the dancer in the front, and the colors stand out well against the uniform black background. This photo would work well as the feature/lead photo in a photo essay or an article.

A photo like this, however, is rather weak. While the dramatic lighting is interesting, there’s no interaction between the dancers. You also can’t see their expressions. When I published it with the article, I made it a secondary photo and captioned that the dancers were waiting for their dance. But I now know that even secondary photos in a photo essay/article shouldn’t rely on explanation. The photos should tell a story and answer the Ws themselves. A stronger version of this photo could have been some of the dancers smiling at each other while they waited. Just because a photo has some interesting compositional elements doesn’t mean it tells a story.

Navigating Public Records

After my photo review, I attended a talk on how to access and request public records. One of the most important things I learned is that agencies can and will charge for the labor fee that can accrue from compiling sets of documents. State and public agencies should not charge for the first couple of hours of labor, but the panelists still noted that in general, we should break up our requests into multiple smaller requests.

I also learned that just because an official says a document is sealed or confidential does not necessarily make it thus. It is important to take things with a grain of salt and always ask myself and those I request documents from if there’s anything else that isn’t being shared with me.

Courtesy Pexels.

Legal and Libel Issues

This idea of knowing to push back and question things also translated to libel issues. Elizabeth Ritvo, a leading libel lawyer, spoke about our legal rights as journalists. We discussed several cases, such as Sandmann v. The Washington Post, in which high school student Nicholas Sandmann sued The Washington Post for libel regarding a story they did on his viral confrontation with an American Indian activist. The court cleared the Post for most of the statements in the article Sandmann claimed were defamatory. but is reopening the case for three of the statements.

We also discussed Fair Report Privilege, which protects journalists from litigation when they publish something from an official public document or statement by a public official that is false. As long as the journalist accurately used the source, they can’t be sued for libel. While it is important for journalists to fact check, public officials should also be held accountable for all their words. It shouldn’t just be journalists getting the heat for factual errors they make because they weren’t able to fact check as deeply as they wanted.

I’m thankful for this opportunity to have attended a regional convention for journalists. I am especially grateful to learn about resources and rights I have as a journalist because I know that it will enable me to do more as a journalist. Bob’s advice on going out to take photos at social environments like sports games and public marketplaces will also help me grow as a photographer as I seek to expand my photography to include more storytelling.