Don't picture this
In Tuesday's paper, we published a photo on page A5 of three soldiers using a latrine on their base in Afghanistan. We've gotten several complaints about it, including this one:
Could you please tell me what justification you had for publishing the picture titled "Duty Calls." What little dignity and privacy our soldiers are afforded in a war zone was totally breached by the AP photographer, and you only highlight your lack of professional journalism by running the photo.
I can't defend the photo (nor can I find it online to link to). From all the photography we get from Iraq, we should have chosen a better, more relevant image.
The only good news out of this: People do read the inside of the paper.
Comments (6)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
What IS it with you, and the N&R, and pictures? You produce well thought out news sections. You provide entertaining life sections. Your sports, eh, a little light on Panthers, a little heavy on NASCAR, but that's just me. You write deeply insightful editorials.
THEN you've got this PICTURE thing going on. What's up with that?
Posted on September 14, 2005 4:56 PM
Besides clear cases of societal norms being violated, or truly pornographic pictures, I think you're really talking about a matter of personal taste.
Have you heard from anyone who thought the picture and caption to be funny, if somewhat sophomoric?
Posted on September 14, 2005 5:09 PM
I thought the picture was "cute", all the comforts of home. Three stalls - No Waiting.
Not that I had been spending nights wondering where our soldiers were "going"; now I must question if using latrines is politically correct in a foreign country.
Will this photo cause rioting?
Posted on September 14, 2005 5:32 PM
Now jw, you long ago established you have no sense when it comes to judging photos! (To the unintiated so you won't think I'm being inappropriately mean-spirited, jw is among my best friends online, even though we've never met.)
I wasn't offended by the photo. It was really just a light-hearted picture of a slice of life overseas. The question was whether it was a good use of space -- we ran it four columns wide -- when there are other, better photos out there. In answering the questions from those who wrote me, well, I couldn't explain why we published it.
Posted on September 14, 2005 7:49 PM
Oh, come on.
It WAS funny.
Posted on September 14, 2005 7:59 PM
The copy editor who wrote that headline has a husband in Iraq. She thought the photo was funny, and she said her husband would as well, if he saw it. A lot of people I've heard from think the photo is a great slice of life -- it also shows some of the conditions our soldiers endure that we don't always think about. Maybe I'm speaking out of turn, but I don't have a problem with it -- I don't think the photographer was trying to make fun of the soldiers or frame them in a silly way. I gues people read it that way, though. It happens.
Posted on September 17, 2005 12:05 AM