Is it really an ethical decision to change the color of your bathing shorts in a photograph? I don’t think so. Ethics are not involved when it comes to your personal decisions. But the same situation becomes ethical when you want to put someone on the cover of a magazine.

The Washingtonian magazine, put a shirtless Obama on their cover of May Issue and also took the liberty of changing the color of his bathing shorts from black to red. 

There are two questions here -

1. Is it all right to put a shirtless photo of American President on the cover of Washingtonian?

2. Is it all right to change the color of his shorts from black to red?

Washingtonian President and Publisher Cathy Merrill Williams said that she didn’t really think that this will become an issue. First, she didn’t think there was anything wrong in putting the picture of shirtless Obama on the cover. She said there are articles inside that show what Obama is really about. Second, she said that they had to change the color because black wouldn’t show on black, hence the red shorts.

Here is what Prof. Susan Moeller, a media literacy Professor at UMD has to say about it. She says it’s unethical to play with the photographs because it changes our perception about who Obama is.

I too think it is wrong to change the color of his shorts. On a deeper level, this raises questions of credibility and trust that readers put in media. Readers believe that media is being truthful at all times. This reminds me of Prof. Jay Rosen talk on crisis of press in which he mentioned about the “crisis of authority” and said that, “Media has let the tribe down.” By being dishonest (among other things), media has alienated their readers. It would be important to see how Washingtonian addresses this crisis.

Tomorrow is an awaited morning. Thousands of people will gather in Washington, DC to witness a historic moment when Barack Obama the newly elected President of United States will be sworn in as the President of United States. His election as the President of United States, marked a victory for all those voices who were silenced because of the virtue of their birth. It showed the world that if you want to, you can make it. You don’t have to stop because of who you are. What really counts in this world is what you can do.

When I came to the United States, in 2004, I witnessed the re-election of President Bush. I was too new to this country to understand the politics here, yet I was challenged to write an essay on the campaign for one of my courses. I watched the numerous TV campaign ads but all I remember from that campaign was that color blue represented Democrats and red represented Republicans. The election of President Bush held no charm for the American public. I saw numerous posters commenting on his bad vocabulary or his ability to handle situations such as Iraq war.

But this year, elections mattered.  It is no more about the color blue or red. It is about the President of United States, the most coveted chair in this country. It was important to Americans who was going to lead them. They have learnt their lesson, that leaders matter. It is important to choose a leader based on their ability and not because of pedigree. So they left the comforts of their homes, to tirelessly campaign for their leader. To listen to him and to see whether he will lead this country and the world into the promised future, where humanity will walk a new path. A new world in which your color and race won’t matter.

I hope tomorrow we witness that new dawn