Father and son

Look at the picture and read the background story here.




Lance Corporal Bernard from the US Marine died in Afghanistan recently and a picture of him, with his leg being blasted, was captured by a photojournalist. Associated Press decided to run the picture and now, LCPL Bernard's father is making a huge fuss over ethics. You can read it here.

My colleague, a Law lecturer, questioned about the morality of journalists and the media and also interrogated me (albeit a friendly one) on my thoughts. As a journalist (yes, I always regard myself as one so suck it if you disagree), it is our duty to report. It is, however, not in our control to see that things being published. On a superficial level, it is wrong to blame the journalists, blame editors and publishers if you must. And by the way, publishers are not necessarily journalists or media-savvy personnel. They are usually, first and foremost, businessmen.

On a deeper level, yes what the journalists report may not be the stuff fairytales and rainbows. It is, however, what we are tasked to do. The soldiers are taught to train and not to ask why they are in the war. We are trained to report what is in front of us and not to mull about how society will perceive it. We'll think about that later, when we have done our job.

So yes, I acknowledge the grief that his father is going through but the picture is similar to the photographed casualties of other wars and riots - dead Vietnamese in the Vietnam War, dead Chinese in World War II in Singapore, dead Jews massacred by Hitler, tanks threatening protesters down at Tiananmen (this one is a personal favourite because I have a soft spot for student activism) and RUC killing IRA dissidents (vice versa). Why didnt the world create a fuss when they saw dead refugees or slain protestors ... which by the way, all have been published in newspapers or magazines before? Why didnt the Americans react seeing the dead Iraqi children on TV?

Simple.
It's because the mortally wounded were not their children.

It's a big fuss because Bernard is an American who perished serving America, who happens to have an outspoken father who happens to be an ex-Marine himself. When things hit a raw nerve, we react differently. If it was not his son who was being visually captured, senior Bernard wouldnt have gone ballistic, would he?

So as a journalist, we understand the psychological impact to see your son being blown to bits on national and internatial press. We are stuck between a rock and a hard place - either we protect your emotions or we deny the world the chance to witness the brutality of war. I support this picture because firstly, it wasnt as graphic as I expected (I've seen worse in children's video games!) and secondly, it gives a powerful message of war cruelty, brotherhood, patriotism and sacrifice.

For every one angry Bernard Sr, there are million others who choose to remain silent and accept what life has got to offer, even if it means losing their sons and daughters in wars and then reliving the horror when it's telecast on TV.


...

Oh well.

I am inspired to pick up the pen, paper and camera again.

How, God?



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