Ask the Recruiter

Q. Recently, our company decided it was going to change our Web site design. The template is standard among all of our company's papers and is a big upgrade from what we currently have.

ASK JOE A QUESTION

To get your question answered on this page, send it to Joe. Please include your full name in your message. If you prefer that your surname not be published, please indicate that. Sign up to receive Ask the Recruiter by e-mail. (sent Monday-Friday at 8 a.m.)

As part of the redesign, all reporters are having their pictures taken. They will appear near bylines with each story posted on the Web. These pictures will not appear in the actual print product. The design makes sense for our company's TV stations, but I don't think it works for newspapers.

I'm against the pictures for several reasons, but mostly because I think they will remind the reader of our columnists, who always have their pictures by their first-person work. I also think that posting our pictures repeatedly will remove any shred of anonymity we have left in our personal lives. The Web is where news is going, and with this method, I think our readers will see a little too much of us every day. I know I'll feel really uncomfortable.

What do you think about this concept? Do I have to let my company take my picture and use it in this way?

Camera Shy

A. I appreciate your concern and think the general public would be surprised to hear how many journalists consider themselves to be private, or even shy.

Joe Grimm

You're going to have a tough time arguing that you don't want your photo posted for privacy's sake. After all, we put our names out there on so much of our work that we seem to be as public as the public figures we write about.

But I agree that a columnist -- who is expected to write with an attitude, edge, opinion, or a personality -- is more public than the beat or general-assignment reporter. You make a good argument that the design of a Web site should not blur the line between news and opinion. The distinction must be preserved.

Jen Wallace of News University made this avatar of herself.

Some Web sites publish the reporter's photo only on a bio page and not with every story. That seems to me to be a reasonable compromise.

I don't know on what basis journalists can prevent their images from being used online or in the paper. There does not seem to be a stronger ethical basis than the one you used, and I don't think a privacy argument would work.

If they insist on using an image with your stories, I'd ask for an avatar. The News University staff members, for instance, have avatars listed next their bios.

The recruiter asks back: Should reporters have control over how their images are used? Would an avatar be a suitable alternative? Join the discussion here.
 

---

Coming Friday: This reporter is looking to make a move after just a year on the job and wonders about the length of tenures and resumes.

---