W&L’s Colón Weighs in on Use of Graphic Photos of Ambassador’s Murder
“Why is showing the dead body of the Russian ambassador in Turkey helping me, as a viewer, understand the significance of this act better?”
Aly ColónAly Colón, Knight Professor of Ethics in Journalism at Washington and Lee University, recently shared his expertise in a piece exploring how news sites handled graphic photos of a Russian ambassador’s murder.
In an interview with the Christian Science Monitor, Colón points to the key questions that must be asked in a situation such as this one, when determining if the graphic nature of a photograph outweighs its journalistic importance.
“Why is showing the dead body of the Russian ambassador in Turkey helping me, as a viewer, understand the significance of this act better?” asks Colón. “That’s in addition to the knowledge you’re bringing to me in a narrative format. And will I understand the circumstances of this assassination better because of it?”
You can read the full piece in the Christian Science Monitor online.
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