(Fox News photojournalist Chris Poturalski)
I have two job-related reoccurring nightmares: 1 - My car is stolen with all of my camera gear in the trunk. 2. I show up to an event late and miss it.
Both of these nightmares are awful, but the being late nightmare is the one I hate most because I have to tell my editors at the Blade that I screwed up.
Being late to an event can place a news photographer into an ethical dilemma. You would think it would be common sense to accept that we missed the event and move on to the next assignment. But it's not that easy. With today's job insecurities and fierce news competition, it's tempting to CYA (cover your butt) by doing whatever it takes to get the job done.
I bring this up because I recently witnessed two local TV stations staging an event they missed because they were late. It wasn't a life-altering ethical breach, but I was still a bit concerned over their decision to ask the participants of a BP oil spill hand-holding protest at Maumee Bay State Park to repeat what they had just finished.
Fox News photog Chris Poturalski and I were there on time, documenting the 15-minute protest. As I was leaving, the two photogs showed up. I thought that at least they could get sound bites from organizers and participants with the lake in the background, which is what they should have done. Well, you know the rest of the story.
The organizers didn't mind because they got their message across.
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