[Detrious]

I picked a girl up with an ankle like that. Made me feel a bit queasy too, even with my job!

Hers wasn't sport related, more 18 shots of Vodka related...

D

[skippy the wonder dog]

Well, I'd agree it's human nature. In fact, I'd say that the ethical problem lies with the viewer, more than the publisher. But that's not the point here.

I'm not concerned with the ethics of publishing these photos. Gory photos don't bother me, and in fact, I don't find those particularly shocking. I'm a photojournalism buff. I mean, one of my favorite photographs is "An American soldier killed by German snipers, Leipzig, April 1944" by Robert Capa.

How about Eddie Adams' famous shot of a man getting his brains blown out in the streets of Saigon? Philip Jones Griffiths' important work on Agent Orange in Vietnam (http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue04...intro.html)? How about this shot (http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0212/ph13.html), by Christopher Morris, which required sticking a camera in a kid's face at his father's funeral? Or this photo essay by Peter Turnley: http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue02...intro.html

This stuff doesn't bother me. Stories need to get told.

It ain't about me being offended by the photos; it's about me observing the reaction to the photos, in which the usual complaints of ghoulishness are absent. War photos or other photos of human suffering (including photos of the homeless on our own streets) normally draw sharp complaints of exploitation, ghoulishness, etc. (If you want to see the work of a guy who draws more such complaints than anyone else, visit http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/.)

These photos, taken from a mass entertainment spectacle, do not. That suggests a double standard. Possibly this is because people feel that sports events are already in the public eye, but I don't think so. I think people concoct ethical criticisms of photos only when those photos show them things they'd rather ignore.

Oh, and Dame: when you say a photo doesn't need an argument, you only lead me to believe that your newspaper experience never involved making editorial decisions, particularly about photography. Let me ask you this: it's Sept 11, 2001, and you have to decide whether to publish a shot of a man jumping to his death from the WTC. What do you decide?

Congratulations: if you answered the question, you made an argument.

[Detrious]

I am with you on human nature...

In my job I deal with people suffering from illness and trauma every shift, and I see the voyeuristic nature of the majority of the (at least British) public.
When we wheel people out of the house to take them to hospital, there is invairiably the curtain twitchers and passers by who stop to look and see how bad the person actually is.
At an RTA you will, 99% of the time, hear the sqeal of tyres as someone comes close to slamming into the back of the car infront, as they are trying to see who is injured and how badly, rather than watching the driver infront, who has also slowed right down to see what they can see.
On the street you will get to someone, and there will always be a group watching, not helping, just watching. You will almost always hear the quiet question 'Do you think he will die?

We are a curious animal, and I think deep down we want to see things that remind us of our own frailty and mortality.
This is why all the conversations after the game started with 'Did you see his leg?'

I feely admit that if I am in A&E and a good case is ongoing in resus, I will go in to look. I can try to qualify it by saying that it will benefit my professional development, but deep down I know I have that same, basic, morbid curiosity. I can accept it as part of my 'human nature'

I looked at the pictures and I am not ashamed to say so, I can self censor.

D

[opiated]

Im a HUGE Man United fan, and it was hard to see Smith go down like that. He was a real hardworking, courageous type mid-fielder, its a tough loss. But he'll back.. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.4thegame.com/club/mufc/news/186046/smith_back_before_years_end.html">http://www.4thegame.com/club/mufc/news/ ... s_end.html</a><!-- m -->

I don't follow soccer, but isn't cheering for ManU like cheering for the Yankees, only worse?

according to my father...much much worse...

[VioletlightHeron]

Im a HUGE Man United fan, and it was hard to see Smith go down like that. He was a real hardworking, courageous type mid-fielder, its a tough loss. But he'll back.. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.4thegame.com/club/mufc/news/186046/smith_back_before_years_end.html">http://www.4thegame.com/club/mufc/news/ ... s_end.html</a><!-- m -->

I don't follow soccer, but isn't cheering for ManU like cheering for the Yankees, only worse?

according to my father...much much worse...

Even much worse now that Malcolm Glazer owns the team?

[opiated]

Im a HUGE Man United fan, and it was hard to see Smith go down like that. He was a real hardworking, courageous type mid-fielder, its a tough loss. But he'll back.. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.4thegame.com/club/mufc/news/186046/smith_back_before_years_end.html">http://www.4thegame.com/club/mufc/news/ ... s_end.html</a><!-- m -->

I don't follow soccer, but isn't cheering for ManU like cheering for the Yankees, only worse?

according to my father...much much worse...

Even much worse now that Malcolm Glazer owns the team?

the players from man u. could rescue a bus full of nuns from drowning, and my dad would still think they're scum!

[j-monster]

Im a HUGE Man United fan, and it was hard to see Smith go down like that. He was a real hardworking, courageous type mid-fielder, its a tough loss. But he'll back.. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.4thegame.com/club/mufc/news/186046/smith_back_before_years_end.html">http://www.4thegame.com/club/mufc/news/ ... s_end.html</a><!-- m -->

I don't follow soccer, but isn't cheering for ManU like cheering for the Yankees, only worse?

according to my father...much much worse...

Even much worse now that Malcolm Glazer owns the team?

the players from man u. could rescue a bus full of nuns from drowning, and my dad would still think they're scum!

Which must mean your dad is a fan of either Liverpool or Man. City, am I right?

[opiated]

actually my dad is a Watford fan if you can believe it, but only because he was born there..he actually flew back to england to see them play in a game to get them back into the premiership!! and they won!! however, back to the first division again the next year..this year they're doing well though..could be back in the premiership again!!