{"id":6861,"date":"2015-11-11T05:35:15","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T05:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2015\/11\/11\/mizzou-and-public-spaces\/"},"modified":"2015-11-11T05:35:15","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T05:35:15","slug":"mizzou-and-public-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2015\/11\/11\/mizzou-and-public-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Mizzou and Public Spaces: The Right to Photograph"},"content":{"rendered":"

This from reader J.J.C.:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

I'm sure you've heard a lot about the Mizzou [University of Missouri] protests so I'll spare you the details. But one particular debate caught my eye. Some of these student protesters claimed that the press has no right to photograph them because to do such is an intrusion on their privacy (obviously the press has a legal right to do such). Some people respond by saying that since Mizzou is a public space (it's a public university) you have no right to privacy in public spaces. But of course you still have some right to privacy in public areas (the right not to have your person searched without a warrant, the right to use a bathroom without people watching, etc.) So what are the moral grounds (as opposed to the legal grounds) for saying that the press should have unrestricted access to photograph things in plain view in public spaces?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Safe<\/a>Protests and demonstrations occur in public, and for good reason: the whole point is to make public one's concerns.  So there is something deeply paradoxical about protesters who object to being photographed or televised.  It is paradoxical to go public with one's protest and then object to reporters and other people who give you publicity.  It is incoherent to suppose that a space in which one is noisily protesting and perhaps disrupting normal goings-on can be a 'safe space' into which the public at large cannot intrude, even at a distance, with cameras and such.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paradox and incoherence aside, the protesters have no moral right not to be photographed given that they have occupied and disturbed the peace of public spaces.  Does the press have the unrestricted<\/em> moral right to photograph things in plain view in public spaces?  No, not an unrestricted right.  But surely they have the right to photograph what is in plain view in a public place if the ones photographed are protesting or demonstrating whether peacefully or violently.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suppose a couple are enjoying a t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate under a tree in the quad.  Does a roving photog have the moral right to snap a photo? I say No.  He has a moral obligation not<\/em> to do such a thing without permission.  So I would say that is not just a question of good manners, but a question of morality.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This from reader J.J.C.: I'm sure you've heard a lot about the Mizzou [University of Missouri] protests so I'll spare you the details. But one particular debate caught my eye. Some of these student protesters claimed that the press has no right to photograph them because to do such is an intrusion on their privacy (obviously the press has … Continue reading “Mizzou and Public Spaces: The Right to Photograph”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,122,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-civility","category-ethics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6861\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}