“…We try to strike a balance, delivering not only what readers want to see but also what they need to see”, says David Walters, the Miami Herald’s deputy editor-photos and video, in the article Too Graphic? There is a fine line in photo journalism with being sensitive to those you are shooting and accurately depicting the story you are telling.
I found this article fascinating. I have never personally been a victim of immense tragedy such as the Haitian earthquake on January 12, but I can only imagine how it must feel to see a picture of one of your friends or family members dead.
From the other end, my side of the picture, I feel compassion for those who were affected by this horrible disaster. These graphic pictures create a sense of empathy and in return makes its viewers actively help. If the world just heard about this earthquake and never saw its magnitude, we would have a more difficult time understanding the depth of the grief and pain these people are feeling. At least for me, seeing makes a bigger impact that just hearing.
In regards to the U.S. Military casualties, I feel a bit different. I cannot explain why, but I do not feel these pictures should be displayed as graphically as those of natural disasters. This is the difficulty with determining whether a picture is “Too Graphic”, the volume of the photography depends on the situation. How do you enforce a rule when, I feel, it should be considered case by case?