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| Dec. 27, 2004, Associated Press -- Tsunami victims This image shows a grieving mother among children who had been killed in the tsunami. Would you run this photo? On front page of newspaper and on website: Journalists: 41% / Readers: 26% On inside page of newspaper and on website: On website only: Only link to an outside source from website: Would not run image at all: |
The APME's online survey showed five photos that had been discussed in newsrooms and households across the country. In each case, some media outlets chose to run the image, and some chose against. Confronted first with the image of a grieving mother among children killed by the Asian tsunami, survey respondents wrote of awkward feelings; they felt as if they were intruding on a sacred moment.
"If your child were killed in some horrific manner, would you rush a reporter to get a picture of your wife's reaction?" asked Red Thomas, a reader from Mesa, Ariz. "If not, why does this woman deserve less dignity?"
Most viewers were also extremely hesitant to show the bodies of dead children. A significant minority of journalists and readers -- about a quarter of both groups -- refused to run the picture. For them, it was just too personal. Many journalists also cited newsroom policies that specifically prohibit publishing photos of dead bodies.
Still, 67 percent of journalists and 56 percent of readers said the photo belonged in the paper. Many said they'd run the image precisely because it forced Americans to identify with faraway tragedy. Statistical descriptions of widespread devastation are impressive and incomprehensible at the same time, but a mother's anguish hits home.
"I believe the only way to make something as vast as this tragedy understandable is to reduce it to single, human images," said David Offer, a journalist from Augusta, Maine.
Many were also moved by the photo's potential to call Americans to action.
"While heart-wrenching, the image is an important one to communicate the catastrophe, and to personalize it," said Ed Roussell, a reader from Medford, Ore. "I wouldn't put it on the front page ... but the photo should be used, especially to move individuals to reflect (and hug their own children tighter) and to help -- philanthropically, and otherwise."