New York Post's Subway Death Photo: Was It Ethical Photojournalism?

[imnotasquirrel]

When a news photographer witnesses a tragedy in the making, is his obligation to intervene or to document it?

That question has cropped up anew following the New York Post’s publication, on its front page, of a photo taken moments after a man was pushed onto subway tracks, and moments before he was hit and killed by an oncoming train.

Comments

[thesilverymoon]

Honestly, I can't fault the photographer for not rushing forward to help. Having been in that position before, it all happens very quickly--it's hard to think that fast about what to do when you're terrified.

And while I don't necessarily have a huge issue with the Post running the picture (it rubs me wrong of course, but idk--maybe I'm just too tempted to give shitty newspapers leeway when it comes to taste), I have an issue with them making it the front page picture.

It reminds me of when my grandmother met my brother's girlfriend's family. Her brother used to be an editor at the Post, while her dad is a columnist at the Times. Upon hearing the brother worked at the post, she turns to the dad and goes "I am so, so sorry."

[thesilverymoon]

Also I have to say, out of everyone involved in this I feel the worst for the conductor. Killing someone, but through no fault of your own, must be an awful, awful experience. I hope he gets plenty of time off and has access to an excellent therapist.

[kseda]

This is where I get so randomly pissed when news stories describe something like "a train hit a person/a car", because - made up statistic here - nine times out of ten it is not the train engineer's fault. I ride New Jersey Transit every day and unfortunately know how common those things are (the delays from such incidents are, horrifically, described as resulting from trespassing) and have no idea what sort of support structure is in place for these engineers and conductors.

[maclou]

I thought of the driver too. I known someone who drives a subway train and one time someone fell in front of the train and died and he got very deeply depressed over it. It was a long, long time before he could return to work :/

[lady_borg]

yes agreed, especially when the guy was pushed in front of the train by somebody else.

[bestdaywelived]

There was an interesting story in the (I think?) New York Times Magazine a few years ago about a conductor who watched someone run in front of his train at Penn Station.

[ms_maree]

Is a conductor the train driver?

[kaelstra]

Technically there are two, the conductor and the engineer, but the conductor is like, the head guy that runs the thing. This varies in some countries, though.

[ms_maree]

Ah thanks, I was completely confused. Where I'm from the conductor is the dude who goes through and sells tickets in the carriages, though they got rid of them years ago. And the train drivers are called ...train drivers.

[kaelstra]

Yeah, I think it varies by region. Here in the US, there's the conductor and an engineer, and sometimes people use them interchangeably to indicate "the person that drives the train".

[lady_borg]

Thats what we still have have in trains. Thats the norm in my city.

[ms_maree]

You're in Adelaide right? I'm in Brisbane.

[lady_borg]

Ding Ding yep :D. I must be the only person from adelaide in this whole comm.

[ms_maree]

I think I remember you saying you were from South Australia, and umm, is it bad to say Adelaide is the only place I know on the top of my head in that State. Yikes, sorry.

[lady_borg]

LOL, no that is all right, we don't really have that many notable places. Although you should know of Coober Pedy. We get most of our Opals there.

[rhysande]

Coober Pedy has some very interesting homes