7. Public interest / journalistic purpose

Some commentators question whether revealing participants’ faces serves a journalistic purpose. Is there value in showing the faces of individual people who participated in the party? Can the story be told just as well if the participants’ faces are obscured? Does the public value of telling the story outweigh the potential harm to participants? “What’s […]

4. Expectations of privacy in the social media age

Ethical questions around how journalists should use images to illustrate a story have become ever more complex in recent decades. Digital cameras have become ubiquitous, and social media has blurred the lines between public and private. Even if a photo is in the public domain, where do journalists’ ethical responsibilities lie? James Turk, director of […]

1. “Sick to my stomach”: How the photos became public

On November 21, 2016, Toronto-based comedian Celeste Yim tweeted photos from the party. She wrote that she came across the photos in a Facebook album shared by a Queen’s student. The album, which is no longer available, was viewable by “friends of friends,” including Yim. “A very shockingly racist party thrown by Queen’s students happened,” […]