Professors Yung Soo Kim of the University of Kentucky and James D. Kelly of Indiana University researched whether people believed photojournalists were ethical if they acted as dispassionate (professional) observers rather than “Good Samaritans” when confronted with life and death issues. Respondents supported moral relativism, believing photojournalists’ actions depended on situational factors. Photojournalist James Nachtwey’s states: “It is something I have to reckon with every day because I know that if I ever allow genuine compassion to be overtaken by personal ambition, I will have sold my soul.”
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