The Photo Brigade presents a special Olympic sports photography panel featuring sports shooter veterans who have collectively shot dozens of Olympic Games over the years.
The Photo Brigade presents a special Olympic sports photography panel featuring sports shooter veterans who have collectively shot dozens of Olympic Games over the years. Gary Hershorn(Reuters/freelance), Julie Jacobson (Associated Press), Al Bello (Getty Sport), and Robert Deutsch (USA TODAY) talk with moderator Steve Fine (SI/NYT/Flipboard) about past experiences in covering previous games and what they think about the upcoming games Rio from a technology perspective, news perspective and sports perspective.
To those who think this picture is disrespectful, I say that perhaps you prefer it if we remembered him only as a statistic. I’m sorry but again I have to respectfully disagree. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, if I was a soldier killed in action, you can be damn sure I would want a photograph of my death plastered across the front page of every publication in the world.
No subject we’ve tackled in the first four months of the Lens blog has touched quite so raw a nerve as our Sept. 4 post (”Behind the Scenes: To Publish or Not?“) about a decision by The Associated Press to distribute a photograph taken in Afghanistan by Julie Jacobson. It showed Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard, 21, of the Marines, after he was mortally wounded during a Taliban ambush last month.
In her journal, Ms. Jacobson expresses consideration, compassion and concern for the families of soldiers shown in conflict. Her mission as she states it: “Then, there’s the journalism side of things, which is what I am and why I am here … it is necessary for people to see the good, the bad, and the ugly in order to reflect upon ourselves as human beings.” And reflecting we are. The publication of Jacobson’s image of Cpl. Bernard has stimulated one of the most active discussions in recent memory.
AP said in a statement released in conjunction with the photographs today that the meeting with Bernard’s parents included them seeing the photographs in advance of any release.
“AP journalists document world events every day. Afghanistan is no exception. We feel it is our journalistic duty to show the reality of the war there, however unpleasant and brutal that sometimes is,” AP director of photography Santiago Lyon said. Bernard’s death shows “his sacrifice for his country.”
