By Lisa Conley
Round Table online editor-in-chief
Too weak to stand, a young Sudanese girl crawls toward the center of a clearing, attempting to reach a nearby United Nations feeding center. As she continues to struggle, a vulture lands, his eyes carefully trained on the child. Kevin Carter, a South African photojournalist, witnesses the scene. He reaches for his camera, takes a picture and walks away without ever helping the girl. Carter’s photograph earned him the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography, as well as an outpouring of criticism for his failure to assist the child; however, Carter clearly understood what his persecutors did not: a journalist is a detached-observer who should not, under any circumstances, intervene in the story he or she is covering.
An African village devastated by a flood receives aid from a humanitarian organization; unfortunately, the agency is severely understaffed and cannot provide immediate assistance to all those in need. A relief-coordinator asks a bystander to deliver medical supplies to the villagers with the worst injuries, which would potentially save lives. Should the bystander help? Ask an average citizen this question and, without hesitation, the answer will most likely be, “Yes, of course.” Ask a journalist, however, and the answer will not be that quick or simple. When determining whether to intervene in the situation, a journalist must first ask himself or herself a series of questions: Is my ability to intervene essential? Will my actions alter the outcome of the story? If I intervene, can I still report the story objectively? The answer to the last question is always no. The moment journalists insert themselves into a story, they compromise the objectivity.
When Kevin Carter’s photograph was first published in The New York Times, there was public outrage. The one question the world seemed to ask was, “How could he not help? How could anyone not help?” In an interview with NPR, Dan Krauss, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary The Death of Kevin Carter: Causality of the Bang Bang Club, explains that “People were very quick to label Kevin Carter a vulture, but they didn’t take the opportunity try to understand the complexity of the situation in the Sudan and the complexity of being a journalist faced with that degree of suffering”. However, Carter’s photograph did more than just enrage audiences; it brought international attention and, subsequently, aid, to the famine-stricken Sudan. Thus, by remembering his journalistic role as a detached-observer, Carter was able to serve humanity on a different level.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, journalists flocked to the scene, documenting heartbreaking stories of anguish and despair. For many journalists, the suffering they witnessed was overwhelming, compelling them to set down their notebooks and help by whatever means possible. These journalists thought they were merely assisting people in need, but in actuality they were setting a dangerous precedent for themselves. What happens the next time a similar situation arises? They will feel required to respond in the same way. At what point does a journalist become an activist?
Paul McMasters, the First Amendment ombudsman at the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center states, “In the world of journalistic ethics, there are seldom good answers or pat answers,” but in terms of the debate regarding journalists’ roles in events they are covering, there is, in fact, an answer that is both “good” and “pat”…an answer that stands above the rest: a journalist should not, under any circumstances, intervene in the story he or she is covering.
Too weak to stand, a young Sudanese girl crawls toward the center of a clearing, attempting to reach a nearby United Nations feeding center. As she continues to struggle, a vulture lands, his eyes carefully trained on the child. Kevin Carter, a South African photojournalist, witnesses the scene. He reaches for his camera, takes a picture and walks away, preserving the integrity of his profession and becoming a role model for all those who wish to call themselves a journalist.
