In 1991 South African freelance photographer Gregory Marinovich was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for spot news photography. (O’Brien p 69) The set of photographs submitted covered an attack on Lindsaye Tshabala, a man believed to be a Zulu Inkatha supporter (McDougall) at a workers hostel in the Thokoza township near Johannesburg.(Catsam) Marinovich observed the fatal attack as part of the coverage of the under-reported “Hostel Wars” which concerned mainly black on black violence in power vacuum which developed in South Africa on the run up to the country’s first democratic elections.(Catsam) He was faced with the ethical dilemma, “should he intervene or observe?”.
To analyse this dilemma four issues must be addressed: the nature of the social contract that exists between journalists and the public; the operational dangers experienced by a journalist working in a conflict zone; the need to tell a story and record history; and finally can a journalist be more effective in saving of one life or many.
Holland in Briggs Cobley p 465 defines the relationship of trust that should exist between journalists and the public as, “When operating as a photo-journalist, a photographer promises the viewer authenticity and veracity, playing the part of a dispassionate observer who is uninvolved with events as they unfold in front of the camera.”
Further she adds that there is an unwritten contract entered into between the public and journalist that requires the later to report accurately what they see. In fact should a photographer have been suspected to have interfered with the set-up, in any way, the validity of the image is in question and “the contract with the viewer may be broken.” (Holland p 470) She concludes that “It is only the photographer who can vouch for the reliability of a picture.”(Holland p474)
Robert Capa’s photograph of the moment a soldier was shot during the Spanish Civil Wars is widely regarded as the most famous single image of war in the history of photography. Philip Knightly, a historian of war reporting observes that, “It has entered the pictorial vocabulary, becoming instantly recognizable so that the original caption is largely redundant.”(Holland p472) This highlights the responsibility of the photographer is to ensure that the photograph is an accurate representative of an event, since the image can and does live on.
In an examination of public reactions towards ethical issues facing journalist Yung Soo Kim and James Kelly state that, “Based in the strong trust of the public, news images should be accurate records of reality.”(Kim,Kelly p24) and O’Brien(p 74) agrees that at all level of the news gathering process that there is an ethical duty to communicate effectively and responsibly.”
The fact that the images captured by Marinvich are of violence and ultimately death does not alter the central role of the journalist, as Linfield comments on James Nachtwey’s photographs of atrocities that, “ human beings – creatures of reason and free choice – did these things to each other, did them purposely and with passionate conviction.” A concept echoed by Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town and a stalwart of the Anti-Aparttait fight, who observes that, “the world need to be told this story,…and they must have been remarkably cool, even cold-blooded to look on it all as being part of a day’s work.” (Marinvich, Silva p xi)
The nature of operational danger that is encountered in conflict zones is perhaps the most extreme that a journalist will ever meet, as Don McCulin, one of Britain’s leading photojournalists observes, “You cannot walk on the water of misery and death. You have to wade through to record them. (Linfield)
Describing, ten years later, the events surrounding the death he witness on 15 September 1990, in his book The Bang Bang Club – Snapshots from a Hidden War”, Greg Marinvich states, “the man [Lindsaye Tshabala] on the floor passed from living to dead.” However the mood in the vicinity changes, “The men sprang away, but within seconds they would surely realise that I was a defenceless witness to the murder.” He concludes that “shocked as I was, I was mindful of the importance of the pictures. No words would bring home the horror of what was happening in the townships as clearly as that set of brutal pictures could.” (Marinvich, Silva p 20 – 22)
During the attack Marinvich shouted to his attackers, questioning the identity of Tshanala as a “spy”, but this only drew his presence, as an outside observer, to the coms [comtsotsis – a hybrid expression of tsotsis, who are petty township thugs and comrades, trained ANC guerrillas]. “No pictures, no! Fokoff!” Marinvich states that he defiantly shouted, “I’ll stop taking pictures when you stop killing him,” however the attack continued. Subsequently a BBC cameraman at the scene told Marinvich that the coms had tried to attack him with a machete while he was occupied taking the photographs.” (Marinvich, Silva p 33)
Of the four original members of the “Bang Bang Club” who covered the township violence at this point, Ken Oosterbroek was killed by friendly fire in 1994 while working, an incident that was captured by member Joao Silva. Silva carried on working in war zones around the world until he stepped on a Taliban landmine in October 2010 and lost both legs in the blast. (McDougall)
Kevin Carter, a long troubled individual, committed suicide shortly after Oosterbroek’s death, tormented by the fact that he was not present but instead doing promotional work following his award of the Pulitzer Prize for featured photography for his photograph of a starving child being stalked by a vulture in Sudan. (Keller) Only Marinvich himself remains as a practicing photo-journalist but he has long retired from conflict zones. (McDougall)
That photographs taken in situation of conflict can be regarded as history is confirmed by Marinvich’s statement that, “Our photographs at least ensured that these things didn’t happen in the dark.” (McDougall) It is key to the ethical responsibility by which most journalists abide. Indeed the oft quoted saying is that a journalist must, “Shine a light in a dark place.” (Anon)
The photograph as history has long been central to the ethical debate concerning war reporting. “These [conflict shots] are photographs that take the viewer into the middle of a dramatic event and carry a sense of authenticity and conviction which can overwhelm the verbal account. The photographs which are recalled in the histories of news photography include Robert Capa’s dying Republican soldier in Spain 1936; the terrified child running from a napalmed village taken by Nick Ut in Vietnam 1972, and the burnt Iraqi at the wheel of his jeep, photographed by Kenneth Jarecke during the Gulf War in 1991. Each of these gets close to the immediate experience of war and each have come to stand as a symbol for the war it represents.” (Holland p 465)
The definition of photo-journalism by Grace Robertson of the Picture Post was that on an assignment for that magazine, “you were very aware that you were expected to bring back a story, one with a beginning, middle and an end and not just a lot of photographically interesting images that you hoped would fit the text.” (Holland p 469)
The acclaimed war photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson centred on, “the decisive moment” as the definition of the objective record, an observational style where photographers ‘capture’ their subjects unawares at the precise moment. (Holland p 470)
Kim and Kelly (p25) examine the ethical issue of intervention in violent circumstances by stating that, “Most experts argue that the decision [of intervention] should be based on the exact situation and that every ethical dilemma has its own unique circumstance,” since reality is never as clear as pre-meditated actions which can be prepared for.”
They continue by commenting that tragedies force photojournalists to choose between duty as “Good Samaritan” and as effective journalist but that this moral conflict can be distilled to one of which has the great ultimate impact. (Kim, Kelly p 23)
Holland (p470) states that, “although the issue of objectivity is always up for negotiation, the need for factual reporting becomes ever clearer when there are limitations on access which are formally enforced, as in time of war.” The very necessity to document atrocity is increased by the isolation of the incident. But this in turn increases the personal danger that a journalist faces.
In the introduction by Moorcroft and Taylor (p xiii/ xiv) in Shooting the Messenger they content that “War reporting can have a very real impact on the number of lives lost – or saved. Domestic reporting may sometimes topple governments but it rarely play’ God.”
“When should a journalist intervene – to say one life or 2,000?” To intervene can mean the loss of a journalist’s life, the removal of their access to stories which must be reported on and the danger that they have “become the story” rather than observe the story. Marinvich was outnumbered and isolated, surrounded by individuals who showed no dislike of committing violent acts resulting in murder. In these circumstances it is unlike his intervention would have achieved any but him own death, as well as Tshabala, with additional consequence that the photographs would never have reached the outside world.
References
Catsam, D. C. 2003. The Bang Bang Club: Snapshots From a Hidden War, African Studies Quarterly, journal, Vol 7.2-3. Available at http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v7/v7i2a20.htm accessed 13 September 2011.
Holland, P. 2002. News Photography, In Briggs, A. and Cobley, P. eds. 2002. The media: an introduction. 2nd edition. Harlow: Pearson/Longman. Chapter 32.
Keller, B. 1994. Kevin Carter, Pulitzer Winner For Sudan Photo, Is Dead at 33. The New York Times, newspaper, 29 July 1994. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/29/world/kevin-carter-a-pulitzer-winner-for-sudan-photo-is-dead-at-33.html?scp=1&sq=kevin%20carter&st=cse accessed 13 September 2011.
Kim, Y. S. and Kelly, J. D. 2010. Public Reactions Towards an Ethical Dilemma Faced by Photojournalists: Examining the Conflict between Acting as a Dispassionate Observer and Acting as a “Good Samaritan”, Journalism and Mass Communication; Vol 87 No 1, Page numbers 23 – 40.
Linfield, S. 2001. Beyond the Sorrow and the Pity, Dissent Magazine, online. Winter Issue. Available at http://dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=1246, accessed 28 September 2011.
Marinovich, G. and Silva, J. 2001. The Bang Bang Club: Snapshots from Hidden War: The Making of New South Africa. London: Arrow Books.
Moorcraft, P.L. and Taylor, P.M. 2011. Shooting the Messenger: The Politics of War Reporting. London: Biteback.
McDougall, D. 2010. The Last Blast of the Bang Bang Club. Sunday Times Magazine - London, 21 November 2010. Available through: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CA242546618&v=2.1&u=napier&it=r&p=EAIM&sw=w accessed 13 September 2011.
O’Brien, S. 1993. Eye on Soweto: A Study of Factors in News Photo Use, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Vol 8 No 2, Page numbers 69 – 87.
The Pulitzer Prizes, 2011. The Pulitzer Prizes – Feature Photography, online. Available at http://pulitzer.org/bycat/Feature-Photography, accessed 13 September 2011.
The Pulitzer Prizes, 2011. The Pulitzer Prizes – Spot News Photography, online. Available at http://pulitzer.org/bycat/Spot-News-Photography, accessed 13 September 2011.
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