I mean, we need those images, as a society, to know what’s happening and to respond to it. And yet … I can’t help thinking that if a reporter can get to a place where they can photograph someone swimming to safety, or stranded on a rooftop, they can also take that someone out with them when they leave, or at least drop off some food and bottled water before they go.
This is hardly a new journalistic ethics question. But the older I get, the more trouble I have with the notion of taking pictures instead of getting involved. When I was younger, I think I could have made a more confident case for the need for some folks to stand back and document events instead of stepping in.
And yet, I’ve continued through the years to stay home and write stories instead of doing any number of things in the world that I could have been doing instead–the only difference being that I was two or three steps removed from those things to begin with, instead of just one–instead of already being right there.
ETA: lucy_anne passed along this link, which really does give a good feel for what the journalists involved are dealing with and going through.