Publishing Drunk Drivers Photos- Cohl

Publishing Drunk Drivers’ Photos

When readers of The Anderson News picked up the Dec. 31, 1997, issue of the newspaper, stripped across the top of the front page was a New Year’s greeting and a warning. “HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR,” the banner read. “But please don’t drink and drive and risk having your picture published.” Readers were referred to the editorial page where White explained that starting in January 1998 the newspaper would publish photographs of all persons convicted of drunken driving in Anderson County. Source- (https://www.spj.org/ecs10.asp)
What is wrong with this article is the fact that it is going beyond the truth. It may be with good intentions of helping out the town, but they are exposing photos of everybody who gets a DUI. This is an invasion of privacy and could be easily avoided. You can write about the DUI, maybe even use the name of the person if they give consent, but not likely, but you can never put their photo into the news because it can ruin somebodies life. There needs to be a line between telling the truth and being excessive.

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