3/17/2006
Controversial photo
The Ithaca (N.Y.) Journal set off a firestorm of protest with a page-one photo it published a couple of weeks ago. A state trooper was slain in a gun battle with two bank robbers. Remarkably, the newspaper photographer must have arrived at the scene just as other police did and took a photo of the overall scene: troopers with guns drawn, hunkered down behind cruisers, and one of them in the background of the photo kneeling beside what appears to be the body of the slain trooper. Although the photo is shocking and disturbing, it is hardly gruesome; there is no blood, and the body appears as hardly more than a shadow.
Yet, the newspaper was flooded with letters damning it for printing this photo. It published many of these letters on its editorial page. "I am absolutely appalled at the picture... Obviously you people did not consider the feelings of the trooper's family and friends when showing his dead body for the world to see," was the typical response.
Does this reaction sound familiar? It does to us. We hear it every time we print a shocking news photo.
Journal managing editor Bruce Estes defended the selection of the photo in an editorial, and I like his response:
"As public budgets have eroded fire and police protection in our communities, it is important for citizens to see the potential consequences of those budgetary decisions. In our county and others, fewer sheriff's deputies protect us today than five years ago... Citizens are asking their protectors to do much more with less.
"In the picture of Andrew Speer killed in the line of duty, I saw the sacrifice others make for our safety. The sacrifice that Speer, 33, made for us deserves to be remembered vividly and completely, even if it makes us uncomfortable. The stakes of not having a community remember that sacrifice would dishonor a man who paid a huge price for our safety."
