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August 1997 - Volume 9, No.3
Images that Offend The Press Council is increasingly questioned about the use of stark photographs, illustrating articles on violence or tragedy. Zoltan Kovacs, a columnist for The West Australian, looks at some of the issues in the light of some letters received from Primary School students. Disturbing images of a Zairean execution stirred emotion recently. But while such images are bound to cause offence, they also force the world to take action. A picture of a fleeing girl, burnt and terrified, captured the horror of the Vietnam War in 1972. There could not have been a more moving image of the suffering of the innocent in a war in which atrocity became a daily routine. The picture went around the world and hardened opposition to the war. It stirred compassion and anger among newspaper readers - and increased pressure on governments to work to end the war. It achieved an emotional response that was beyond the power of words. Despite its effectiveness in conveying the mindless brutality of war, there were probably people who disagreed with its publication. The major arguments against publication would have been that the girl's condition and pain would disturb some people. The girl was also shown humiliated in her distress after she tore off her clothes, set alight during a napalm attack. In newspaper offices throughout the free world editors had to weigh such considerations in arriving at decisions on whether to publish the picture. Today newspaper editors and their delegates have to make similar judgments every day in selecting the articles and pictures to be published. If an editor is doing the job properly, he or she is guided by the public interest and an understanding of what is interesting, useful and acceptable to the readership. No editor is infallible. Errors are made and decisions sometimes are as controversial inside newspaper offices as among readers. The skills that go into bringing out a newspaper have more to do with the instincts of art than the certainties of science. Newspapers must have empathy with the communities they serve and be in tune with social changes. Each newspaper is nourished by readers' comments on its performance. The Whiteside Primary School students whose letters appear on this page have provided useful comments on the decision to publish pictures showing violence in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), as rebel soldiers consolidated their control over the city. A man accused of being an officer in the guard of former Zairean president Mobuto Sese Seko was shown being kicked, beaten and finally shot in the back in a series of black-and-white pictures in The West Australian's foreign pages. Most of the students wrote that they found the pictures disturbing and that they should not have been published. The pictures showed violence and brutality. Decisions to publish such pictures are never taken lightly. Any such decision must weigh the community's right to be informed on matters of major significance against the likelihood that some people might be offended. Such issues are often vigorously debated in the newspaper office before a decision is made. In the case of the Kinshasa pictures, they showed not just violent treatment of a man by rebel soldiers. They also gave a graphic depiction of lawlessness in the streets by representatives of its new rulers. The behaviour of these troops has international significance because it portends the establishment of another dictatorship based on violence and oppression, rather than the democracy for which the international community had hoped. The pictures are evidence of contemporary reality in that divided country and they alert people to the possibility of continued human rights abuses. If people are informed and concerned about such outrages, their governments are more likely to take a strong stand against those involved through international diplomacy and trade. The harrowing pictures of violence and suffering that have come out of Vietnam, South Africa, Bosnia, China, Rwanda and other world troublespots over the past few decades have played a part in shaping international opinion and hence government policies. Exposure of the evils of apartheid through pictures and words surely played a part in its demise. When people around the world saw through the news media the wretched suffering of the blacks and their callous treatment by officialdom, they pressured their governments to take effective action against South African authorities. It can be argued that lack of full exposure of the atrocities of regimes that blocked the scrutiny of the free press - such as those in the former Soviet Union, nazi Germany and Cambodia - allowed them to continue in secret for much longer than if the world community had been better informed. No newspaper wanting to keep and increase its readership would set out deliberately to offend them. Any newspaper must abide by community standards if it expects community support, and avoid giving gratuitous offence through lapses in taste or judgment about what is acceptable. But if a newspaper is to report the news and seek to reflect accurately what is going on in its local community and around the world, it is bound sometimes to give unintended offence. A good newspaper should be in constant dialogue with its readers. The Whiteside students have contributed to that process by making known their views. ZOLTAN KOVACS (Reprinted with permission) As a teacher who uses The West Australian as a teaching aid at Whiteside Primary School, I must admit I was shocked to see that you had printed pictures of an accused man being executed (The West, May 20). It did, however, prove to be a most powerful discussion point about rights and responsibilities of people and the press. Personally I think you went overboard, but more importantly, here is what a class of 11 and 12-year-olds think. DEAN HODGSON, class teacher, Years 6-7 We were disgusted at the pictures on page 16 of the Zairean rebels kicking, pushing and shooting an accused man five times in the back. It made us feel sick to see those pictures in the newspaper. We don't think there was any need to put them there. NICOLE MANN, MARIE FORAN, Year 7 I found the pictures and articles on page 16 most disturbing but it did happen and I think the newspaper should have the right to print the pictures because they tell people the real things that are happening in the world. The West Australian was only doing it job. RICKI FIELDING, Year 7 I am appalled over what you printed about Zairean justice - rebel style. Did you have to print the pictures when the story itself explained it all? Please explain why you printed the pictures. KIRSTY SHONIS, Year 6 In Tuesday's paper my eyes were drawn to the bad pictures you printed. Why did you print these bad pictures? Doesn't the story explain it all? I think you should think before you do anything to do with the newspaper because these pictures were very sickening. I'm disgusted. NICOLE HAMILTON, Year 7 The pictures you showed on page 16 of a man getting shot in the back were not necessary. The photographs were offensive to me and some people I know. Why put them in? Did you think they would sell more papers? I want to find out what is happening in the world but I don't want to see offensive pictures. DYLAN PARKINSON, Year 6 I found the pictures on page 16 disgusting. I think enough was said in the story. I don't want to be rude but please leave those kind of pictures out. I sort of understand why you did it but it is not very nice. Remember children read the paper too. ASHLEIGH CULL, Year 6 I think you could have used the words without the pictures. I am so disgusted. What if people have nightmares? I can't believe you did that. TEAGAN READ, Year 6 [ return to top ] Return to APC News 1997 Index Documents with the |
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