![\"restricted-refugee-boy\"](\"http:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/restricted-refugee-boy.jpg?w=300\")
<\/p>\nThe\u00a0title is\u00a0a saying that is intended to capture the painful choice between two equally bad options. You may have also heard someone use the phrase\u00a0“between a rock and a hard place.” Both are idioms used to describe a dilemma.<\/p>\n
When I saw this\u00a0AP (Associated Press) photo in my local newspaper a few days ago I knew that this was one of those photos. It grabbed my attention and forced me to acknowledge a painful reality. Refugees from Syria and other nations under siege by the Islamic State\u00a0are trying to get to safety, and\u00a0some\u00a0are dying in the process. Three-year-old Aylan and his five-year-old brother Galip, along with their mother, were just three of the victims of this tragically failed bid for freedom. To see a lifeless body of a young child is never easy…but is it necessary? That’s a\u00a0question for journalists and reporters…and media ethicists.<\/p>\n
The decision to take the photo or to record audio\/video of an event unfolding is fairly straight-forward. Unless you can do something to change the outcome, your journalistic responsibility is to\u00a0shoot the photo and record the event. Once you get back to the office, away from\u00a0the urgency of the situation and with the support and counsel of colleagues who are emotionally one step\u00a0removed from the situation, you can make the decision whether to use some part or all of the material.<\/p>\n
As expected the photo was widely distributed, not just by AP but by social media users: some who were shocked by the photo, others by the reality that it represented, and still others by the decision to publish the photo at all. It’s not an easy call. Those who published the photo argued that\u00a0the shocking nature of the photo\u00a0may serve a greater purpose.\u00a0According to the BBC article linked below, the UK newspaper The Independent said it had decided to use the images on its website because “among the often glib words about the ‘ongoing migrant crisis’, it is all too easy to forget the reality of the desperate situation facing many refugees.”<\/p>\n
This incident is not without precedent. There have been other photos that have forced us to face harsh realities and the dilemmas inherent in life-and-death moments captured on camera. In an earlier blog post<\/a> I asked similar questions about photos of men who were seconds away from dying. Years and continents away, a South African photojournalist, Kevin Carter, took a Pulitzer Prize winning photo of a Sudanese child as a vulture waited for her to die. Carter later took his own life. You can read more here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you believe that these\u00a0photos should not be published, then you see me as\u00a0contributing to the problem. I thought about that…and decided to take the risk. I hope that you think deeply about what this picture means, and what it means for you. If we\u00a0turn away and go back to our\u00a0Twitter feeds,\u00a0our\u00a0video games, or our\u00a0Netflix movies…or even back to work or whatever else\u00a0we\u00a0might be\u00a0doing this Labor Day weekend…without asking soul-searching questions about our\u00a0role in the world and how this tragedy might be averted for future\u00a0Aylans or Galips, everyone loses.<\/p>\n For more information:<\/p>\n The\u00a0title is\u00a0a saying that is intended to capture the painful choice between two equally bad options. You may have also heard someone use the phrase\u00a0“between a rock and a hard place.” Both are idioms used to describe a dilemma. When I saw this\u00a0AP (Associated Press) photo in my local newspaper a few days ago I … <\/p>\n\n