War’s Painful Imagery
“We feel it is our journalistic duty to show the reality of the war… however unpleasant and brutal that sometimes is.” – Santiago Lyon, Associated Press Director of Photography
“The issue here is not law, policy or constitutional right – but judgment and common decency.” – Robert Gates, Defense Secretary
At first blush this seems like an easy call. Reporters who embed with U.S. troops, who accept the protection of U.S. troops, must abide by the rules set by the U.S. military.
And those rules generally err on the side of protecting the privacy of troops and their grieving families.
The Associated Press is challenging the interpretation of those rules with its distribution Thursday of a photograph of Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard, 21, taken right after a rocket-propelled grenade struck him Aug. 14 in Afghanistan. The image shows Bernard in pain from the serious wound to his leg. He died later at a field hospital. In a statement the wire service said, “AP believes that the stories and photos report on Bernard and his last hours respectfully and conform with military regulations surrounding journalists embedded with U.S. forces.”
[AP and the Death of a Marine]
The decision outraged the Pentagon, prompting Defense Secretary Gates to write an emotional letter of complaint to AP’s President and CEO Tom Curley. Gates called distribution of the photograph, “an unconscionable departure from the restraint most journalists and publications have shown covering the military since September 11th.”
Gates, who famously declared “the press is not the enemy” early in his tenure, and who lifted the ban on coverage of the return of war dead at Dover Air Force Base this year, wrote, “Out of respect for the family, I ask you in the strongest terms to reconsider your decision.”
“Why your news organization would purposely defy the family’s wishes knowing full well it will lead to more anguish is beyond me. Your lack of compassion and common sense in choosing to put this image of their maimed and stricken child on the front page of multiple American newspapers is appalling.” said Gates, who was — according to insider accounts - “furious” about the AP’s actions.
The AP sent the pictures to news organizations. It did not publish it on its web site. It let individual editors at its member news organizations decide.
So far, I have found few news organizations that have actually run the photo. The St. Petersburg Times did and got a mixed reaction. Here are two typical reader comments:
“If we see more pictures like this one, instead of the sanitized war the Bushies wanted us to see, maybe our citizens will pressure our govt. to get us out of that hell hole. Good reporting, good photo. I’m glad you printed it.”
“The story was great — what a hero that man is. However, the story would be just as amazing w/o the photo. I could’ve done w/o it. That was a bad call to publish it.”
A Healthy Debate?
To be fair to the AP, it didn’t break any of the embed rules. In fact, it followed them scrupulously, waiting until the fallen Marine was buried before releasing the photo, and even showing the picture ahead of time to the Marine’s family. But when Lance Cpl. Bernard’s father asked the AP not to run the picture out of respect for his son, the AP made an editorial judgment not to honor that request.
“We understand Mr. Bernard’s anguish. We believe this image is part of the history of this war. The story and photos are in themselves a respectful treatment and recognition of sacrifice,” said AP senior managing editor John Daniszewski.
The AP argues, citing unnamed “critics” (I suspect that “critics” in this case may refer to some folks within the AP), that “some of the rules are aimed at sanitizing the war, minimizing the sacrifice and cruelty which were graphically depicted by images from the Civil War to Vietnam where such restrictions were not in place.”
And notably, Secretary Gates is not saying that the AP doesn’t have the right to publish the pictures, rather arguing it’s callous and uncaring to ignore the family’s request, “The issue here is not law, policy or constitutional right – but judgment and common decency,” says Gates.
I have the picture. I have looked at it. It’s not nearly as grim or gruesome as some images I have seen. But I guess I come down on the side of the family. I agree it shows an important side of war, and I might be inclined to publish it if it showed an anonymous soldier, or the identity was protected in some way. But in this instance I would vote not to publish the photo, at least not now.
It’s interesting to note when the news media argued for opening coverage at Dover, and to loosen restrictions on coverage of military funerals at Arlington National Cemetery, one of the strongest arguments was that the families – not the military – ought have a say in the level of coverage they think honors their loved ones.
What do you think?
Tags: War AP Photographs
