Ethical Photography: Where Do We Go From Here?

We're seeing a lot of commentaries triggered by the Souvid Datta episode, where he is accused of both photographing unethically, and of passing off collaged and plagiarized material as his own. This has led to a great deal of hand-wringing and upset, with many people making observations about the state of the photojournalism industry, about the awards-driven nature of certain areas of documentary photography, and so on. What nobody seems to be doing is proposing solutions.
This piece will end up with a strawman proposal aimed at making the situation better. First, however, let us clear away some underbrush.
 
Cow Skull, Alkali Flat.
This is a staged photo from 1936, Arthur Rothstein, presented originally as un-staged. This was used to illustrate the dire conditions of a drought in the Dakotas. Not only was the cow skull moved for the shot but the photo was shot before the drought really got going, and is, in fact, a pretty typical looking alkali flat. It was decried, in 1936, as a...