Ethics , photojournalism and childhood : image of Palestinian-Israeli conflict in Spain

RESUMEN El objetivo de la investigación es determinar las características específicas del tratamiento fotoperiodístico de la prensa española de información general en la cobertura del conflicto palestino-israelí cuando aparecen niños o adolescentes. Para precisar esos rasgos se analizaron –mediante 29 variables– todas las fotografías de esa naturaleza publicadas durante 2010 (n=26) en seis de los diarios españoles más relevantes, tanto generalistas (El País, El Mundo, Abc, La Vanguardia) como gratuitos (Qué! y 20 minutos), que abarcaban el 56,65% del universo de lectores. Para los reporteros gráficos, la niñez se convierte en un intencionado icono como víctimatestigo de la violencia en el imaginario del conflicto entre israelíes y palestinos. Las instantáneas, que distribuyen por lo general agencias de información internacionales, homogeneízan la visión del enfrentamiento, vulneran en su mayoría el derecho a la imagen de niños y jóvenes, y transgreden con frecuencia principios asentados de la deontología profesional. ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to identify the specific characteristics of the Spanish press photojournalistic coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when children or teenagers appear in the photographs. In order to achieve this goal we analyzed –using 29 variables– all the pictures published during 2010 (n=26) in six of the most important Spanish newspapers of general press (El País, El Mundo, ABC, La Vanguardia) and free press (Qué! and 20 minutos), a 56.65% of the universe of readers. For photojournalists, childhood becomes an intentional icon of violence in the imagery of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The snapshots –usually distributed by international information agencies–, homogenize the vision of the confrontation; most of them violate children’s right to privacy, and frequently infringe settled principles of professional journalistic deontology. Ética, fotoperiodismo e infancia: Imagen del conflicto palestino-israelí en España


CHILDHOOD AS A VISUAL CATEGORY OF WAR HORROR
On June 8, 1972, Huynh Cong Ut, an Associated Press photographer, was traversing Route 1 between Saigon and the Cambodian border, in the vicinity of Trang Bang, when the South Vietnamese aviation bombed the place with napalm.Moments later, he took a snapshot of nine years old Phan Thi Kim Phuc when she was running terrorized, with her skin burned, along with four other children.The image, awarded the Pulitzer the following year, has a place in the history of photojournalism as a vivid allegory of the ignominious child suffering during armed conflict.
But is it really necessary to show the horror and the consequences of violence in children's faces and bodies?The absence of images causes the disappearance of the conflict (Linde, 2005).During his time as Defender of the Reader of the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Josep Maria Casasús (2002) resorted to a controversial statement of Henri Cartier-Bresson in cases of this nature: The audience has the right to see all of reality.Scruples of ethical righteousness taken to their ultimate consequences, argued Casasús, would imply to cover all the faces of children affected by situations of hardness and pain, from those who live the Middle East intifadas to those who, risking their lives, cross the Strait of Gibraltar on fragile rafts.Most readers would not accept this extreme manipulation of photos, he concluded.
Childhood symbolizes tragedy, natural or accidental, assiduously as well as the horror caused by human barbarism and unreason: Those that caused the heart-wrenching scream of Tanara Akbari, the Afghan girl surrounded by a sea of bloody human offal after a suicide attack in Kabul, which made her the tragic protagonist of Massoud Hossaini's photography, lauded with the 2012 Pulitzer.Or those of the winning image at the 56th World Press Photo 2012.Of 5666 candidates from 124 countries, with 103481 original photos, it was Swedish photographer Paul Hansen of the newspaper Dagens Nyheter who won, precisely with an image in Gaza: A delegation of Palestinians moves the shrouded bodies -in the foreground-of a two and three years old children, who died during an Israeli bombing that destroyed their house: Childhood, violence and Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Photojournalism can play a crucial role, as it directs social discourse during an armed conflict before public dissent (Bresheeth, 2006, p. 62).Therefore, the photographer can never escape to the reflection on the shot and composition that he chooses, the consequences resulting from the dissemination of the image or the professional responsibility he will carry after.The dilemma lies in how capture the story, present its actors and reflect the events without stop responding to the why of reality, while respecting the ethical principles of journalism (Kim, 2012, p. 6) and the fundamental rights of the protagonists (International Federation of Journalists, 2002; Save the Children & United Nations Children 's Fund, 2010;United Nations Children's Fund, 2005).
Therefore, the objective of this research is to determine the traits that characterize the Spanish press photojournalistic treatment of general information on the coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict when children and young people are involved: To assess the justification for their presence, to judge the compliance with journalism ethical principles and to evaluate the respect for the legality of the professional practice.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In this subsequent interpretation of the social reality that journalism is, which allows citizenship to understand it, adapt to it and modify it (Gomis, 1997, pp. 35-43), newspapers serve their daily doses of violence mainly in the form of graphic images: Journalistic photographs that the audience likes and that impact them, but that reduce the understanding of the phenomenon, and that may be subject to editing, decontextualization or manipulation (Penalva, 2002, p. 397).Not to mention the risk that its circulation causes psychological trauma in children, both in present and future, as a result of the diffusion of their image or their treatment as an information source (Simpson Cote, 2000;Teichroeb, 2006).
Childhood is present in several of the visual categories of the vocabulary that integrates war photography (Van Leeuwen Jaworski, 2002, p. 256).However, this particular relationship between childhood, violence and photojournalism has rarely been analyzed in Spain, other than in the legal aspect (Calatayud, 2000), deontology (San Martín, 1996) or the most specific of visual image analysis (Baeza, 1999;Domenech, 2005).
It is true that, from a legal perspective, the problem was treated with some regularity, but almost exclusively within legal parameters, by theoretical reflection and legal reasoning (Azurmendi, 1998;Fernández González-Regueral, 2004, 2005;Macías, 2009), without a deep analysis of the journalistic practice.At most there have been case analysis (Torres-Dulce, 2009), useful, but meager, either related to the protection of children and youth rights, or the requirement of respect for journalism ethical principles by reporters and media.
From a journalistic perspective, there are works oriented to this particular approach.There are already some exploratory investigations (Maciá-Barber, 2011;Maciá-Barber & Galván, 2008;Kim, 2012) that have allowed to channel theoretical, technical and methodological approaches for this research, as well as preliminary guidelines for the scientific analysis of cases (Labio & Manfredi, 2009) and the appropriate photojournalistic treatment to the violence-childhood binomial (Pérez, 2004).
Similarly generous and helpful are the weightings of media self regulation entities, such as News Ombudsmen (Casasús, 2002;Serrano, 2005Serrano, , 2006)), or institutional regulation, like the Complaints Commission of the Press Association of Madrid (2007).In both cases, from indispensable self-criticism technical and ethical judgments arise about this specific subject submitted to a competent and rigorous analysis.
This analysis seeks to integrate the plurality of variables, explicit and implied, present in the context of production of graphic messages of violence.Through this study, and in relation to photojournalism, we aim to confirm or refute the following work hypothesis (H): H1: Geographic, social, cultural and political distance implies a greater vulnerability of children to the action of journalists, which can be seen in a clear and often unjustified visual overexposure of children or young persons.H2: Recurrent display of their faces allows identification, which violates their image right, exposing them in certain cases to an undesirable stigmatization or possible future reprisals.H3: Photography that combines the image of children or youth with Palestinian-Israeli conflict, whose authorship corresponds mostly to photographers of international agencies, enables a wide disper-sion of the snapshot, increases its dissemination in the press, makes informational reception homogeneous and constrains interpretative richness.H4: Most published images (>50%) violate the law while infringing journalistic deontology.

METHODOLOGY
The sample includes a significant representation of general information Spanish newspapers, of national circulation, both free and pay.The basic selection criterion is the media's audience: The number of daily readers.However, as in previous similar analysis (Van Leeuwen & Jaworski, 2002), we sought, at the same time, to have a balanced representation of ideological trends, including conservative and progressive.It should be noted that two newspapers -El País and La Vanguardia-have a readers' representative, which is interesting to have a glimpse into the supervision of ethical practices and the influence of media self-regulation.
The business press (Cinco Días, Expansión), has been ruled out both by their specialized character and their limited market penetration.Also we dispensed sports media (Marca, As, Sport, El Mundo Deportivo), due to the specificity of its content, despite the enormous readers numbers.
For the sample to be representative, we considered the number of readers of daily newspapers, taking the 3rd mobile year of the General Media Study (EGM, by its Spanish acronym) corresponding to 2010 (February-November), period to which the selected newspapers belong.The universe of general information and free press readers reached at that time, in Spain, 14.994.000citizens.To extrapolate the results to the whole of the observed universe required overcoming 50% of that number with the selected newspapers.At the same time, it was appropriate to maintain the balance between historical reference press and free press, which has smaller amplitude of contents and lower quality.Therefore we ruled out the free newspaper ADN, considering that the quota for second category newspapers was sufficiently covered.
Regarding the media discourse, we have referred to the many discursive genres, forms and presentation times (Ericson, Baranek & Chan, 1991) times.We share with Rodríguez (1992) the perspective that photojournalist information constitutes a notification of real events, visually interpreted by a photographer and oriented by contingency criteria -novelty, timing, conflict, prominence, among others-, mediated by several codification criteria -photography, informative, broadcasting-which produces a visual message that the receiver interprets according to its iconic competence and knowledge of the context.The measurable features that characterize graphic coverage in relation to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict comprise various strata of different kind, which were distributed in 29 categories, grouped into five levels: a) Hierarchical: They measure the level of importance given to the message (publication, placement and image size), as well as the appreciation of the child or adolescent presence (number, age, justification of the appearance).b) News: They cover the journalistic genre, the section in which the message is published, its theme and topic, the nature of the photo caption, as well as the news criteria, the authorship and the possible archetypal character of the picture.c) Legal and deontological: They respond to current legal regulations, the possible violation of the rights of children and youth, the transgression of ethical principles and the ethics of the snapshot.d) Technical: They allude to the angle of the shot, the use of color and the editing process.e) Interpretative: They focus in the facts' context, the environment of the scene, the linking of the protagonist with the persons with which he appears and the analysis of non-verbal communication.

PROFUSE PRESENCE OF THE CHILD OR YOUNG PERSON AS PROTAGONIST-WITNESS
During the study period, there were a total of 3707 images published by the analyzed newspapers in which children or young people appeared.Twenty-six pho-tographs relating to children and young people in the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict were studied; this is 23.4% from a total of 111 images in which children and young people appeared in war contexts.The percentage confirms the importance of this subject compared to the coverage of other conflicts -Rwanda, Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Côte d'Ivoire, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran and Kosovo.Only the coverage of Afghanistan had a bigger presence (35.1%).
The distribution frequencies per newspaper show a concordance with their periodicity and average number of pages, forming three groups, two with similar proportions -small, for the free press and medium-sized for El Mundo (11.5%) and La Vanguardia (19.2%).The third includes El País and Abc, with the highest percentages (34.6% and 26.9%, respectively).The trend in the global informative weight of photojournalism with the presence of children and young people is significant, with an identical percentage of 3.8% in free press, against the significant variability in general journals.Ultimately, a wide range in managing the resource unfolds.
The images are mostly located in even pages (65.4%) and never in the front page and back cover.Therefore, figures do not suggest that the potential magnitude of attraction of the reader's interest with children as bait is systematically exploited.On the contrary, the distribution in the upper stripe of the page (73%), descending proportionately to less noteworthy areas (central and bottom stripe, in both cases near 14%) is notorious.That is, the visibility of the snapshot is procured, but there is not an abuse to overbuild the image, because half of the sample occupies a width less than a quarter of the page (50.0%), or between 25% and 50% (38.5%).Only 11.5% exceeds the half-page size, unambiguously seeking impact.
An important aspect is the calibration of minors' presence.By age, childhood is overwhelmingly present (69.2%)above the young people category (30.8%).There is no presence of babies.
The child or young person is the protagonist of the event (30.8%) or close to the protagonists (11.5%), and witness of the facts (23.1%), but not affected by violence (7.7%).His presence is not circumstantial (7.7%), but excessively unjustified (15.4%).
There is some emphasis on the role of victim-witness of children and young people as main sufferers of the armed conflicts violence, in which, because of their age, they are rarely actors, but they are witness of brutality and suffering, either from their own peers or family members.Precisely in intra-state conflicts of peripheral countries, coverage is characterized by appealing to humanitarianism (Penalva, 2002, p. 404): Media show violence victims, and call for the mobilization of public opinion for economic or political solidarity and assistance.
Although sometimes the photographer does not seek their presence in a peremptory way, there is an abuse of the use of the minor-victim icon, probably by the undeniable emotional impact, irrespective of legal constraints and ethical connotations surrounding the case.With such approach, the end would justify the means, in line with the interpretation of journalism advocated by the questioned advocacy or committed journalism 1 .
But the accusation of violating deontology because of the so-called personal and professional disorder that some authors attribute to war journalists 2 is exaggerated and unfair as long as reliable and proven evidence of such conduct is not brought.
However, there is a stormy debate about the negative consequences of the tabloid treatment of pain, as the numbing of the audience and hyper sensitization before insecurity (Linde, 2005).

THE HUMAN STORY ABOUT DAILY VIOLENCE AS A PARADIGMATIC JOURNALISTIC MESSAGE
The analysis of the variables related to journalistic treatment of an armed conflict confirms a predictable result: An overwhelming predominance of stories (73.1%) as an interpretive message characteristic of the correspondent, special correspondent or war correspondent, and secondly, of news as main information product (31.5%).Other genres are nonexistent (in-depth reportage, interview, opinion).The photo caption complies with its informative function in all cases.
Since the geographic news scope is far for Spanish, the usual section in which images are inserted is "world" or "international" (84.6%).This would confirm the premise that one of the places offering more coverage to violence is precisely the section on international information (Penalva, 2002).The disappearance of the images on the cover implies that vision offered to the audience is the one of the conflict's specialist, mediated largely by those events reaching the category of news 3 .
In relation to the criteria of the news, conflict is present in 92.3% of the cases.Novelty supposes an inherent value to the image (73.1%); to a lesser extent there is human interest (53.8%), while exceptionality is reduced down to 26.9%.Genericity is a factor present in 38.5% of the cases.The action is specific to the image in a 57.7% of the events shown.Two values do not appear at all: The prominence of the character and the proximity of the events.This amalgam of constituent refers to the eminent news nature of the journalistic message (news, stories), through which we are shown, by word and image, the everyday suffering of a human collective of anonymous victims of a remote conflict, and in particular of the most innocent and defenseless.
Photographic typology provides interesting elements for reflection.Agencies prevails massively (80.8%), with a predominance of Associated Press and Agence France-Presse (26.9% in both cases) above Reuters (15.4%) and Agencia Efe (11.5%).This preponderance causes a homogenization of reality perception, since we find identical or similar images in the pages of the newspapers, as well as the reflection, as weak as it can be considered, of the respective editorial lines and business interests of each foreign multinational corporation.It is disturbing for Spanish journalism that the main national public agency barely provides their fellow citizens their specific vision of the conflict.
The archetypal character of photography -Palestinian-Israeli conflict, violence, victim, child-young person-is met by two thirds of the snapshots (61.5%) and intentionality in the appearance of children or young people is undeniable (80.8%).Therefore, it cannot be said that their presence is random or circumstantial.

PROLIFERATION OF THE VIOLATION OF LAW AND BREACH OF PROFESSIONAL DEONTOLOGY
The legal and deontological implications of this kind of photojournalism are obvious.In relation to the specific use of children's image, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) sets their Principles for ethical reporting on children, that constitute a primary interest guideline.The principle I.6 states: "Do not publish a story or an image which might put the child, siblings or peers at risk even when identities are changed, obscured or not used not to publish images that, even having modified or omitted the names, or hid their faces, may pose a risk to the protagonist, his family or co-workers".And when it comes to choosing a particular snapshot, it calls on reflecting how it can affect the image the protagonist, his life and his story (II.6).Similarly, it forces to place the photograph in its real context (III.2).Finally, it advises to hide the face when there is an actual or potential risk of reprisal -that they are or have been child soldiers, asylum seekers, refugees or displaced.
The International Forum Children and Violence, organized by the Centro Reina Sofia in March 2007 (Valencia, Spain), with the participation of 775 information professionals, concluded with some recommendations on how reporting on children and violence.Among the proposals, respect for privacy and confidentiality of children or young people -whether victims or aggressors-is prominently placed.In none of the cases should the image of their face be published, since it could contribute to their identification (Fernández Arribas & Noblejas, 2007).
Despite the urgent needs and difficulties inherent to the circumstances surrounding their work -especially in contexts of conflict or war-, photojournalists, in unchanged way, should try to obtain the consent of the photographed, who has the right to one's own image.This because they are unable to anticipate how the photography will affect them: The consequences that it will have on their future life, and the use that others may give to the image.This is valid even when there is a healthy intention to denounce an outrage or an abuse.This thoughtful consideration must govern the acting of the professional in the decision of all and each of the snapshots (International Federation of Journalists, 2002).
The variables used in the study, which covered the current regulations in Spain (Fiscalía General del Estado, 2006), asses the casual, accessory or persecuted presence of children or youth pictured in the photojournalist image obtained and disseminated.The balance, in this case analysis, is demonstrative: The appearance of the child is not casual or accessory (61.5%, in both cases), but wanted (76.9%), although posing is minimum (7.7%).This means that the random and fortuitous is tangential.Childhood is associated with criminal activities in 30.8% of the snapshots and the right to the one's own image of the protagonist is repeatedly violated (76.9%).
Deontological perspective sheds interesting figures that corroborate this wrongness.The right to privacy is systematically violated (80.7%), and the identity of the protagonists is never protected.Safeguarding the identity of family members with which the child or young person appears is also not respected.
A bloody aspect is related to technical recommendations to mask the children face, a crucial aspect in safeguarding their fundamental rights.Thus, Unicef (2005) recommends: "Do not publish a story or an image which might put the child, siblings or peers at risk even when identities are changed, obscured or not used" (principle 6).However, in 88.5% of cases their faces are clearly exposed, and when identification is impossible it is not because it is deliberate hidden (there is no evidence of darkening, veils, blurs, stripes or pixelation), but because they are on their back (7.7%) or another body or object hides them (3.8%).Therefore, deontological principles are violated in 84.6% of photographs showing anonymous children and young people, although perfectly identifiable.

THE PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT AS THE SCENE FOR PAIN
Visual interpretive character is based on those variables regulating the context of events, the scope of the scene, the linking of the character with the persons accompanying them in the picture and the analysis of non-verbal communication.
There is widespread resort to long shots (73.1%), relegating the medium shot to second place (15.4%).Even when they are used, close up (7.7%) and the American shot (3.9%) are not significant.Graphic reporting does not focus its gaze that much in children face, identifying it, as in the scenario in which takes place the violent conflict and the number of victims suffering it.The photo objective moves away from personalization to focus on the community: If 42.3% of images show a single character, the rest of them frequently include more than four children or young people at the time (34.6%).Apparently it is not the personal pain, but the group pain, the one that deserves to be highlighted: Childhood, victim-witness, helpless.
The pictures were published in color and there is no evidence of technical editing.Also, we do not see a rhetorical resource in the angle of the shots, as the front frame is overwhelming (96.1%), opposite to aerial shots (3.9%).No low-angle shots were used.Visual interpretation is not based therefore in technology or editing.
The framework in which childhood and youth appear is rarely an environment of their own (home, 11.5%).They are on the street (61.5%), wilderness (15.4%) or other facilities (3.8%).In general, these places at the most could be appropriate, even when they are exposed to situations of risk, given the prevailing conflict.The child, a result of the armed conflict, suffers a harmful move away from the adequate space for him.
And there are cases in which the context would be detrimental (refugee camp, 7.7%).Unicef (2005) recommendation is clear: we must obscure the visual identity of any child or young person who seeks asylum, is a refugee or is displaced.
Iconography closely related to military contexts of an armed conflict appears: Armament (23.1%), uniforms (19.2%) and flags (15.4%).Clearly, a detrimental association.But there are no linkages with other elements related with violence or suffering -medical uniforms, blood, bandages or wire-that will make the message even more undeniable negative.
Following Paul Ekman (1999), in the facial language the neutral or absent face is predominant (30.8%).It would be useful to analyze that psychological component of the phenomenon, perhaps a confuse reflection of a state between unconsciousness and resignation that, however, should be scrutinized in detail by experts.The remaining expressions would be identified with fear (26.9%), anger (15.4%), happiness (11.5%), and surprise, disgust and sadness, with identical percentage (3.8%).In conclusion, faces that convey unhappiness dominate.
Certain helplessness related with the proper physical and emotional connection of children and young people with their peers is intuited.They are surrounded by physically unknown adults rather than by their relatives, with whom, because of their young age, they should be.There are appearances with the father (3.8%), mother (7.6%), both parents (7.6%) or grandparents (3.8%), but mostly children are accompanied by adults (34.6%), usually strangers (42.3%), and often military (19.2%), a counterpoint figure which supplies in the imaginary a dose of protection and defense.

CONCLUSIONS
Spain's geographic, social, cultural and political distance from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict implies a greater vulnerability of children and youth to the action of journalists, which is obvious in the revelation of child or young people identity, as well as in the unjustified overexposure of their image (H1).
The impact of photojournalist image is not preferably quantitative (space and layout), but qualitative (theme, characters and framing).The archetypal cha-racter of photography -Palestinian-Israeli conflict, violence, victim children-youth-meets in two-thirds of the snapshots.Hence, the child or young person is presented as an icon of the disastrous consequences of a violent conflict that they have not provoked nor they participate actively, but of which they do suffer physical (wounds, hunger, misery) and psychological (pain, anger, loneliness) consequences.Therefore, the relevant persecution of the informational duty is joined by an appeal to political and economic solidarity of Spanish public opinion.The primacy of the photographic long shot (frontal and panoramic) next to the dominating presence of groups of children and young people precisely point to the fact that it is not personal pain the one interesting to highlight, but the one of the helpless collective.
Recurrent lack of protection of the face (88.5%) allows identifying children and young people, which violates their right to their own image, exposing them in certain cases even to reprisals (H2).When their faces are not seen is because of other causes, as the position adopted by them.There is not a single case in which their faces are hidden consciously and deliberately, protecting them.The right to privacy is systematically violated (80.7%), the identity of the protagonists is not protected (94.6%), and in any case the identity of the members of the families portrayed with them is safeguarded.These figures act as a reminder that all journalistic messages always has personal and social effects.
The preeminence of novelty as a criterion for the news and the absence of the in-depth reportages journalistic genre warn of the insufficiency of an informative-explicative context that helps citizens understanding the addressed phenomenon.This implies an inherent simplification of reality, only supported by photography, a valuable vision, but constrained too much by iconographic elements of an armed conflict (uniforms, weaponry, flags).All this with the aggravating circumstance that the photographic authorship corresponds to professionals of the main international news agencies (80.8%), which enables a copious dispersion of the image and increases its dissemination in the press.However, this phenomenon homogenizes the flow of information to the newspapers and reduces the citizenship interpretative plurality (H3).Only 15.4% of the pictures offer an alternative perspective, the one of the newspaper, providing an informative added value.The dominance of the Anglo-Saxon (Reuters, Asso-