Looking at these photos, there are some photos that I would run. Photo numbers one (boy with dog), number two (family grieving) and number four (printing plant employee).
While all of these photos are gruesome in their own way, I feel like these images capture the essence of the story without pushing the boundary too far. However, I would also not be opposed to running none of them. I chose to select those three photos to run because while they are heartbreaking, I feel like they don't completely step over the line. I had the most difficulty with the printing plant employee; however, I decided to run it because even though that man does have a family, this strong image accurately depicts what happened. As with the photo with the family grieving over the boy, I struggled with this one because if that was my family, I wouldn't want it to be run. I would run, however, because, as I said before the photo is almost too powerful not to use.
Also, depending on if these were local stories, that would also influence my decision. If it is a small town newspaper and I know the printing plant employee's family will be reading the paper and seeing that image, I make not run it. If this was for a medium sized paper with an expanded coverage area, I would consider using at the very least, the three photos that I had previously stated that I would run in almost any situation.
When looking at each of these six photos, I could see the reasoning behind printing or not printing each one. I chose to run these three photos because while they are gruesome, I don't feel like it is the kind that is completely inappropriate, but instead the kind that draw sympathy and an emotional response.
How and where the photo is used in the paper is very important. With the shocking nature of these photos, I would not run any of them on the front page in case someone did not want to see them. I may even put a tag next to the story to let people know that there could be a disturbing image on the jump page. If I could use these three photos boy with dog, family grieving and the printing plant employee on an inside page, I would do so. The only one that I would truly consider putting on the front would be of the boy with his dog because it evokes a strong emotional response.
I chose not to run the photos of Bud Dwyer, the 15-year-old boy caught in the fence and the Mardi Gras because I felt that those were completely inappropriate and especially gruesome or vile. Depending on what the other photos in the series of Dwyer showed, I
may consider running them; however, it would take a lot of convincing. I would not run the fence or Mardi Gras photos under any circumstances.
This exercise is an important one because it shows how blurry the lines can be when it comes to editing. Many times the tough decisions go through the editors, which in this case, can be very difficult.
