NY Post prints photo of man about to be killed by NYC subway train

12/4/2012 8:48am by 85

A debate is raging on Twitter about the NY Post publishing a front page photo of a man about to be killed by a subway train in NYC.  He got into some kind of altercation with a crazy man who threw him on to the tracks.

The photographer, a freelancer, says that he wasn’t strong enough to lift the man himself, so instead he started taking photos so his flash would hopefully alert the subway conductor that a man was on the tracks about to die.

There are a few issues here.

1. Did the photographer try to lift the man?  Did he have time?  Were others already trying to help?

2. Do you really take a photo of this kind of incident – or is the photographer telling the truth, the photo was incidental (then again, he sold the photo to the Post – should he have?).

3. Should the Post have printed the photo?  It is news and newsworthy. But is it too gruesome?  Here’s their front page:

NY Post photo man killed subway train

The Post has a video explaining the story, below. From the story, it sounds like people tried to help.  What do you think?

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@aravosis | Facebook | Google+. Editor of AMERICAblog, joint JD/MSFS from Georgetown, worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, and as a stringer for the Economist. A frequent TV pundit, he has been on The O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline & Reliable Sources. Full bio and .

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  • arbb

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_screen_doors
    I can’t believe NY still doesn’t have these.

  • LisaSpamier

    Thre is absolutely no shame in journalism anymore. If the photographer couldn’t have saved the guy, that’s still no excuse for taking the picture. SAD! http://www.ficksitall.blogspot.com

  • nilbud

    What a great photo of course it gets the front page. Whining nobodies will always be nobodies and they will always whine.

  • http://twitter.com/sexyshi79 shilo sulda

    This is disgusting. I simply can not believe the photographer thought using his camera flash to attract the driver to a hazard on the track is legitimate, if anything it would distract the driver. For the most part, how convenient that he “happened” to get this photo so decided to sell it to the N.Y Post. I am even more disgusted in the fact the the N.Y Post thought it would be ok to post this pic without any regard for the deceased man’s family who will see this image splashed all over the Internet as well as news stands around the place. Obviously this also indicates that some people/industries are desensitised and can no longer judge what is or is not appropriate. Maybe it is time for the head honcho’s to start taking a close look at how things are done.

  • Goy shabbot

    Ah, the good ole blaming the photographer routine.

    Maybe he could have done something, maybe not.

    Oh nevermind most of you are so brainwashed….

    Let us not blame the pusher. Distract, distract, distract.

    Remember. It was the photographer that did this.

  • http://www.facebook.com/larry.parent.7 Larry Parent

    one person on one arm and another on the other arm pulling would have saved him. one person rushing over to try would have got another to join in the effort.

  • Aliquot

    Even if his story is true about using the flash, why would you turn around and sell it to a trashy newspaper? I’d be sick to my stomach that I had captured that man’s last moments on my camera. The picture would haunt me. Furthermore, what a cruel thing to do to his loved ones. I can’t imagine how horrified I’d be to see someone I loved in that situation on the cover of a newspaper. The ONLY way I’d ever sell is if I got the family’s permission and immediately handed the money over to them.

    To me the issue isn’t if the man could have helped, but the fact that he sold the picture.

  • Ethics

    The ‘freelancer’ has time to take out his phone and take a photo while a man is on the ledge..Did the freelancer really think that the subway driver would see the flash on his phone when his headlights are screaming loud through the tunnel?

    NY Post. do you really consider this journalism? I understand that technology has done a great deal in shaping the world differently; however, is it rightly just and humane to put this photo as the front page cover of the NY Post? As a student who studied journalism, I can definitely agree with other right-minded people out there that this is absolutely unethical. It is WRONG in many ways. i hope the NY Post will re-take journalism 101 in ethics and create works of art and truth rather than shoving trash down the reader’s minds.

    • Bluestocking

      Hate to burst your bubble…but as long as the New York Post continues to be owned by the likes of Rupert Murdoch, hoping that the paper will develop anything remotely resembling journalistic ethics or integrity — or even develop any interest in doing so — is at best wishful thinking as well as a complete waste of energy. You might as well save your breath and your brain cells for something more deserving of their efforts.

  • meh

    What could the photographer have done to help? If that was me, another person grabbing me would just get in the way. I could easily have climbed up by myself, although I may not have had the time.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1298856825 Joanne Equality Robrahn

    I didn’t here a word about anybody trying to help, nor do I see anybody near him as he clings to the platform. What a sick and tragic commentary on modern society. I agree that the photographer’s story sounds like complete BS!

  • AJNY

    Being a transit professional in NY, I must say that the trains coming into this station can be moving at 35mph or faster since it is coming into the station on a down grade. Though this station is fairly long (600 plus feet) there is no way the train could have stopped in time unless the Train Operator was alerted well before they reached the station. Here is some LIFE saving info if GOD forbid you are ever in this situation or are witnessing someone else in this situation. THIS IS MY OPINION!!!!!!

    1- If you cannot get to the person, get to the beginning of the platform where the train is coming in waving frantically in the trains direction. Waving a light source(flashlight, phone, etc.) across the body or in a horizontal motion is ideal. ALL Train Operators are taught to bring their trains to an immediate stop if they see a passenger doing this on the platform when they are approaching a station. Using a light source is ideal because they can see it long before they reach the station even when they are around a curve since a good light source can be seen flashing against the rail.

    2- Please understand that the train looks MUCH larger from the tracks than from the platform. YOU WILL PANIC!!!!!!!! Also, the average person cannot lift their body weight with just their arms and since 9 times out of 10 there will be nowhere to get leverage with your feet, wasting precious time trying to lift yourself up is useless unless there are people there to help you. Here are better options:

    a- RUN in the opposite direction away from the train (CONTROLLED….DO NOT TRIP OR FALL.) Notice that the man basically was pinned by the first car, that car is 60ft long. Running away gives the trains emergency brakes more distance to stop the train before coming in contact with a person.

    b- If there were beams between that track and another track next to it (there was in this case) step over ALL rails and stand next to the beam straight up until the train stops, and STAY there until the train crew comes to get you. The train never hits those beams so therefore it will never hit you. One note, there are red and white candy striped signs (NO CLEARANCE) posted sometimes in station areas that have walls or beams. DO NOT stand in these areas because the train will hit you due to insufficient space.

    I don’t recommend laying in the area between the rails or getting under the platform because sometimes they are not deep enough. Only if you have enough time to assess the situation do this, and if you have that much time, I recommend a or b above.

    I believe there will always be some level of risk with pulling a person in this situation up from the tracks, especially if the third rail (electrified thicker metal rail that has wood or fiberglass panel fastened above it) is on the same side as the platform, where the person on the tracks can come in contact with it and electrocute anyone touching them. Also, a person bending over the platform can also be hit by a train.

    In conclusion, I truly believe that a or b above are IDEAL if you cannot get back up on the platform IMMEDIATELY and a train is approaching. Just be CALM and DO IT!!!!!!! Also, in the case of b, PLEASE WAIT FOR THE CREW TO COME AND GET YOU!!!!! I know the train will look huge from there, but I don’t want you to panic after saving your own life and stepping in front of another train or coming in contact with the third rail.

    Now given these little nuggets, thank me by keeping your promise and doing your best to return home to your family’s safe. The NY POST definitely put another worm in the apple. My heart and prayers go out to the family… STAND UP NEW YORK!!!!!!!!! GOD BLESS!!!!!!!!!

    • Buford

      Great, informative post – thanks for taking the time!

      • AJNY

        Just tired of seein’ people die for no reason on the tracks.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kathryn-Hackney/100001192993476 Kathryn Hackney

    Sorry I would not wipe my bloody arse with the POST

  • Kelly

    I don’t think that should have been posted, seems a little insensitive to me http://www.ficksitall.blogspot.com/

  • Ozgood

    The post probably paid him some good money for that photo as well. Dude is scummy and classless for that

  • tb

    So I guess jumping up and down shouting “Look! Lookit the picture we got of this guy dying!” is news now. Got it.

    I want to know what the photographer was doing in during the, oh, 10-30+ critical seconds after the man was pushed, before he took his picture? Apparently he just stood there and watched the guy fall, get up, and struggle to get off the tracks. Oh, I guess he had to ready his camera, too.

  • http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM

    I don’t see anybody in that photo actively trying to help the man on the tracks.

    Nobody else, in fact, anywhere in the shot. Where are all the people trying to help?

    Based on this detail alone, I have to wonder just how truthful the freelance photographer is being, or if this is just a story he’s spinning for himself so he can sleep at night. Knowing you stood by and did nothing but take pictures as someone died will have inflicted deep psychological damage. The theory that a subway driver would have seen camera flashes as a comprehensible message to stop before the platform just doesn’t hold water. (In fact, if anything, the repeated blinding and distracting flashes may have made it harder to see the man on the tracks.)

    As for the Post printing the photo — it’s snuff-porn journalism of the lowest degree. It serves no public good. Need confirmation? Just read the over-text headline.

  • Buford

    A tough call. I’m not going to judge the photographer because I (unlike others here) realize that I wasn’t there and cannot fully fathom the full scenario. However, this situation really made me think about my own likely response. I’m usually a man of action in these cases… I always stop to render aid, usually without much forethought. However, I have to admit that my first thought here would be whether my attempts to get him off the tracks would have even remotely resulted in me being pulled onto the tracks with him… much akin to a drowning man desperately pulling his rescuer down with him.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kathryn-Hackney/100001192993476 Kathryn Hackney

      my word…please may cowards like you never procreate…please do not pollute the earth with your minions…you can sure tell those that have not served honorably in the Military

      • Buford

        B*tch please… I’ll put my record of intervention, rescue, and retrieval up against yours any day. The fact is, as any lifeguard knows, you don’t blindly jump into deep water to save someone who is drowning… and the same logical assessment makes sense here based upon the extremely limited info we have from that one photo. That photo makes it pretty clear that it would be much easier for the panicky, desperate victim to pull another down onto the tracks with him than it would be to struggle to lift him out of that recess.

  • SkippyFlipjack

    Good for the photographer for doing what he could to help signal and stop the train. If that story helps him sleep a little better at night, you know what would really get him some good rest? Giving every goddamn cent the Post paid him to the family of the man killed. Every single penny.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dirk-Rockwood/100003224919547 Dirk Rockwood

    If it is so bad, why are you showing the picture? It makes you as bad as them. Maybe worse, as you criticize them, yet you do it.

    • imanidiot

      this person is merely reporting and bringing attention to the matter. please think before you post.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dirk-Rockwood/100003224919547 Dirk Rockwood

        And he is showing the picture that he claims is shameless and horrible. You are the one who should be thinking before you post, not just falling lockstep with teh mob. A little free thought goes a long way.

  • Sistahdelish

    This reminds me of a similar situation regarding the photojournalist who took the photo of the African baby with the buzzard standing next to him waiting for him to die. At the time, most of the photographer’s peers rushed to his defense, stating that their mission is not to save their subjects, but rather to make the world aware of a larger problem. In that context, it makes sense. For example, journalists taking pictures of the Syrian revolution or child prostitutes or children in Uganda being kidnapped and forced into armies. In those contexts, I understand their arguments. But this has no such context. It was an amateur photographer thinking he could sell the shot to a newspaper for personal profit and a trashy periodically crassly running it. There’s no means to an end here. There’s no “for the larger good.” It’s just trashy and obscene.

    • Kalirob

      That child survived. No thanks to that guy, but the girl lived.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/OH7YTOPBQEQXO5PU2JSKS2R27Q Andy of the North

        Eh, I don’t know that I see a connection. You can’t just pull a child out of the way of oncoming famine and drought. I think we’re holding every world traveler to an impossible standard if we say “they saw someone in need but they didn’t help”. That picture made people aware of what was going on in a foreign country, so it served a purpose. Do we all help every person we see who needs it? No. No one does. It’s not possible. So let’s not be so quick to judge.

    • mirth

      You present a very good argument, and I agree with it.

    • meh

      The larger problem is the filthy baboon that pushed him into the tracks. I see these animals doing similar crap all the time and nobody gets it. So, yes, in this context there is a, “for the larger good” you’re just too blind to see it.

    • Aliquot

      The photographer who took that picture killed himself months after winning the Pulitzer for it (though not necessarily just because of the photo). It would be interesting to see if the guy with the camera in this situation eventually feels some regret.

    • emmettgrogan

      It was not an amatuer photographer. He had just completed a photo assignment above ground, claims he had “a 20lb backpack of equipment”…read New York Pus “interview” and photo of this piece of shit yesterday.

  • emjayay

    There is more than enough room for anyone to lie down in the trough between the tracks. The train will pass over you. Frightening no doubt and gross besides, but if you are on the tracks and the train is approaching, it will save your life. Don’t touch the third rail on the side away from the platform under a wood or plastic guard. Trying to climb out might not work. If someone else is down there, tell them to do that. A couple years ago a young guy who jumped down on the tracks to retrieve something was quoted in the news as saying it was a lot farther up to the platform than he thought.

  • nicho

    What in the world do “ethics” and “New York Post” have to do with one another? About 90 percent of what the Post does is unethical. It’s just Fox News in print. Pure garbage.

  • Indigo

    Disgusting? Yes! Immoral? Most probably. Ethical? Well, now . . . the business of business is to make money and printing this makes money. That means it’s monitarily ethical, doesn’t it?

    • Bluestocking

      Depends on whether you think profit at literally any expense — even (potentially) another person’s life — can remotely be called ethical, doesn’t it? I for one do not. If anything, I think this should actually be raising a much more global question in our minds right now…just how draconian are people in this country willing to become in the pursuit of profit, and is it really worth it? We’re rapidly becoming a country in which profit nearly always trumps principle — indeed, one in which profit is the only principle. Do we really want to see where this road leads…or worse still, where it ends? Any remotely sane, moral, intelligent, observant, and perceptive person (of which we seem to be in increasingly short supply) should be saying “no…we most definitely do not.”

      • Indigo

        That or it turns the word “ethics” into a private joke for double-talkers, backstabbers and cabals. And that’s pretty much how some of those folks already do things.

  • Quilla

    Muuuuuur-doch….

  • http://thebrainpolice.blogspot.com microdot

    I hate to be a back seat umpire, but looking at the picture, reading the account of the incident, I will say with out a doubt that I could have saved this guys life if I was there. Think fast, act….I’ve done it before and I could do it again. There was enough time. Adrenaline is a powerful thing. We are all capable of superhuman acts if we let go, have faith and just do it!

    • alex s

      totally agree. i did this at canal st with a buddy of mine. we saw a homeless man fall on the tracks and the idiots were just standing around asking are you ok? we helped the guy out instead. god damn people make me sick

    • http://twitter.com/sexyshi79 shilo sulda

      What I find unbelievable is he didn’t have time to help the poor man, but had time to remove the lens cap, turn the camera on and wait for it to start up (which admittedly would have been 1 or 2 seconds) and no doubt ensure the focus on the camera was right. Plenty of I’ve to at least attempt to help this man in need.

      • Jack

        Not defending the photographer at all…but…in response to your comment…the photographer said his camera was in “sleep” mode…it was in his hand and ready to shoot as soon as he saw what happened.

  • Bluestocking

    Was this unethical? John, with all due respect…why do we even need to ask this question?!? I know journalists say that “if it bleeds, it leads”…but putting a photograph on the front page of a man who’s literally seconds away from being fatally struck by a subway train goes way beyond unethical into the realm of the positively ghoulish (especially given the fact that this man’s friends and relatives are no doubt still in shock). Then again, the NY Post is owned by the Murdoch-topus…need we say more? Should we have expected anything better from them? No, not really.

    Speaking as a longtime resident of NYC, I’m quite familiar with the station and the platform where this man was killed — if my understanding is correct, the line in question is essentially the same one which runs through my neighborhood in Queens and which I ride into the city (which makes me a bit nervous, truth be told, since the attacker apparently got away). It’s possible that at that time of day, there actually weren’t that many people waiting on that platform when he was attacked — the photograph certainly seems to suggest that it was fairly empty and service has until recently actually been suspended or at least interrupted on that line at that station (with the result that the usual passenger traffic might not have returned to normal yet). It’s possible that anyone else who might have been on the platform at that moment didn’t have enough time to get over the shock of what they were seeing to rescue this man — for one thing, the reports say that the man was pushed in front of an “oncoming train” which would seem to corroborate the rather obvious fact that the conductor was not able to stop the train or slow it down quickly enough to prevent the man from being struck. That being said, at the time that this picture was taken (depending on how much time had elapsed between the attack and this photograph), it’s also possible that people might have already backed away by that point because they had reason to believe and fear that the victim might inadvertently pull them onto the tracks as well in his panic.

    In all honesty, however, I find it a bit hard to swallow the photographer’s claim that he had tried to save the man himself and was trying to use the flash to get the conductor’s attention. Call me a cynic if you must…but my gut tells me that the photographer is trying to deflect responsibility for his decision to profit from a gruesome tragedy by taking a sensational picture which he could then flog to the press instead of making an effort to save the victim’s life, especially since he ended up (whether by choice or default) selling it to the seediest paper in all of New York. (Let’s put it this way…lining a birdcage with the New York Post is an insult to the bird.) Based on what little I’ve read about this story (my computer crashed and I’ve only recently been able to re-establish internet access), there was not a lot of time between the moment at which the man was attacked and the moment at which he was hit by the train because it was already approaching — they don’t exactly stop on a dime to begin with and sometimes come in rather quickly — so it seems fairly unlikely that the photographer would have had the time and the presence of mind to run over, try to help the man, realize that he couldn’t, run back, pick up his camera, and snap a photograph. Sorry…I just don’t buy it.

    • http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot

      I suspect John’s question was rhetorical, a devise to stimulate critical, moral and ethical discussion.

    • http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM

      As I commented above, I don’t buy the photographer’s reported claim that people were trying to help the guy on the tracks, because none of the photos shown by the Post ever show ANYBODY near the edge of the platform or anywhere near him.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kathryn-Hackney/100001192993476 Kathryn Hackney

        I think the man could possibly been pushed by the photog…maybe he wanted to make the news instead reporting it…but I refuse to watch any videos of this tragedy so I do not know…

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001426939279 Carl Kerstann

    I worked as a photojournalist for several years, I can tell you that for me there is a time to put the camera down and get involved. There is no excuse for this. I doubt it would have ended well no matter what but having tried and failed would rest easy on my conscience, I hope this photographer is haunted by the memory of being a coward the rest of his life.

    • Buford

      Too harsh. You weren’t there, and you certainly don’t know enough of the details to call this photographer a coward.

      • alex s

        he is a fucking coward… fuck that nonsense who takes a picture when a fellow human is about to die????? drop ur fucking camera and go help you coward piece of shit. i would like to know who this asshole is so i could promptly punch him in the face for every NYer

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kathryn-Hackney/100001192993476 Kathryn Hackney

          Right on…obviously this jackass was not around when 9/11 happened…Lord knows how many more people would have died if everyone that helped had been taking out cameras instead of helping get people out of the building…whatever…tsunami wave of KARMA is on the way …and this fool photog will not do interviews unless paid…so we see what this was all about loud and clear…if you catch him Alex I hope someone gets it on camera…lol…please post a pick of this pile so we can put a face with the epic cowardice. He deserves to be outed big time…

          • Noigel

            Good lord the twin towers fell down more than a decade ago, stop crying about it already. It was two stupid buildings. God such a vapid victim complex perpetuates New York.

          • Frederick Stubbs

            Because nobody took photos or video of that incident

          • emmettgrogan

            The New York Pus had a full frontal photo and “interview” with this piece of shit yesterday. Check it out.

      • emmettgrogan

        Notice the framing, exposure, and the full front page display in the sleazoid New York Pus!. How much was this “freelance” piece of shot paid to disgrace himself? Think of the dead man’s friends and framily…

  • kristen

    If the photographer thought the flash could warn the driver of the train why is it such a perfectly captured photo. And where are the people running towards the man attempting to help. This guy was too busy being a selfish human being to even know if he was able to lift him. Im a 130lb woman n I bet you I could have lifted him out of pure fear. But instead this guy wanted to get paid them to save a life. Happy Holidays you inconsiderate prick.

    • http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM

      Don’t even necessarily have to lift either. Just grab the arms, plant your feet, and push/fall backwards, dragging the climber up and over yourself — it’s a pretty standard climbing tactic almost everybody knows.

      If ‘people’ (plural) were actually trying to help, it becomes trivial.

      • guest

        If you are a climber perhaps, and if you are close enough to reach him before the train does. But none of us really know the answer do we?

        • http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM

          The photographic evidence presented does not corroborate the photographer’s version of events. Indeed, it contradicts his story.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kathryn-Hackney/100001192993476 Kathryn Hackney

          But to not even try….????????????????????/ No words…and no effin excuses…he deserves a place next to hitler in hell.

          • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000020776589 Michelle Allen

            Next to Hitler?

            Really?

          • emmettgrogan

            Next to GW Bush.

  • mag

    are you fucking kidding me???? sorry, snapping away so this can be posted on instagram is disgusting. and that rag of a “paper” printing it is inexcusable. those involved with this exploitation should be ashamed of themselves.
    sympathies go out to this man’s wife and family.

  • SkippyFlipjack

    “taking photos so the flash would alert the driver” sounds like nonsense to me.

    • http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM

      As I noted above, more than nonsense, it sounds like something that would distract and blind the subway driver and make him LESS likely to see the guy on the tracks.

  • caphillprof

    I think the photo causes thought which might lead to a better resolution of this issue in the future. I am thinking that trains really do not need to rush into any station, that speed could be curtailed so that the driver could break for something on the tracks in the station. I am also thinking of the skyway trains in use at various airports. They tend to have a double door system so that persons on the platform have no way of accessing the tracks.

    I am tired of all the second guessing about whether or not anybody present could have saved this man. The likely result would have been two or more persons killed by the train.

    • http://AMERICAblog.com/ John Aravosis

      I do worry about that. Whether this guy could have pulled someone else onto the tracks struggling to get out. Then again, if several people ran up to help, they could have held on to the first guy trying to help. But a camera freezes a moment, there may have been one second between the guy being thrown onto the tracks and the accident.

      • emjayay

        Once again, no one should try to get out if the train is approaching. Lie in the trench in between the tracks.

    • Bluestocking

      Your point about the speed at which the trains approach the station is a very valid one considering that in some stations, the tracks actually lead up to the plaform in such a way (on an incline or turn) that an observant person is inclined to wonder how — or even whether — the conductor really has a good view of the tracks by the platform before pulling in and would be in any position to avoid an accident if someone or something fell across the tracks as the train approached. After all, if the subway didn’t have signals within the tunnels and dispatchers communicating with the conductors, they would have no way of knowing (just as an example) that the train ahead hasn’t left the next platform yet and that they therefore need to slow down or stop until that train clears.

      • emjayay

        Small point, but the person in the front of the middle (fifth) car is the conductor, who opens and closes the doors and makes announcements (when they feel like it). Normal announcements are automated on new trains. The guy driving is (I think) the driver. More modern systems in other cities don’t have a conductor.

    • A reader in Colorado

      I’m thinking detectors could be built at a nominal cost that could detect anyone the size of a human being breaking the plane that would indicate they’re falling onto the tracks or are already on the tracks inside subway stations. Unfortunately, these kinds of events are always subject to a cost/benefit analysis in the most gruesome form – what is a person’s life worth in economic terms, times how many persons get killed by events like this every year per system, subtracting the cost of the detectors, their installation and monitoring systems. It’s horrid, but that’s the way they do it.

  • Drew2u

    What about pictures of gang violence or war atrocities?

    Should the public be sheltered from gruesome events, or have we as a society already become bored with violence and death?

    The ethics of a photographer or a journalist is a very dicey area. At what point is the story about the causes leading up to the point of the photograph versus a Tosh.0-style reporting?

    (And I am a horrible human being for thinking of Gantz)

    • http://AMERICAblog.com/ John Aravosis

      good point

    • nicho

      You would have a valid point — if the photographer could stop the gang violence or war atrocities and chose to take the photo instead. That’s usually not the case. In fact, neither of those events is usually photographed at all. Maybe the aftermath, but not the act in progress.

      • Bluestocking

        It also very much depends on what motivated the decision to take and publish the picture. Let’s take war atrocities as an example. If photographs of atrocities are taken and published from the desire and intent to call public or global attention to injustice in the hope that it will inspire people to become aware of it and take steps to address it, that’s one thing…but if the photographs are taken merely for the sake of sensationalism in the hope that it will lead to higher profits, that’s another thing altogether.

        Just as an illustration of this, I find it more than a little telling that when Saddam Hussein’s sons were captured and killed during the War In Iraq, pictures of their corpses appeared on the front pages of many newspapers — including the New York Post, if I recall correctly — but when Osama bin Laden was (supposedly) killed, there were no pictures of his corpse to be found anywhere. Especially since someone might be inclined to think that the reverse should have been more likely, why did it happen this way? I think one reason lies in the fact that the Hussein brothers were killed while Bush was in office while bin Laden was killed while Obama was in office — and the Bush administration showed time and time again that they were not only willing but eager to use sensationalism in order to further their own ends and congratulate themselves, while this has been less true of the Obama administration.

        • emjayay

          While forbidding photos of flag draped caskets coming off the plane.

  • UncleBucky

    The New York Post is unethical. Reason? Murdoch. Period.

    • http://thebrainpolice.blogspot.com microdot

      Uhh, the New york Post was a amoral sensationalist rag long before Murdoch….It’s a New York tradition. Here’s a classic NYP Headline from perhaps 1980?

      • Laur

        Murdoch bought the NY Post in the 1970s.

    • http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot

      The NYP is Murdoch’s personal toilet paper.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kathryn-Hackney/100001192993476 Kathryn Hackney

        Used before printing of course…the personal touch

      • emmettgrogan

        The world is Murdoch’s waste pile, soiling his objective for cash.

  • cmrosko

    I don’t think the photo of the victim about to be struck was necessary. A photo of the train would have sufficed. I find it hard to believe the photographer’s story especially since one of the photos shows the victim on the tracks before he even tried to get up. Did the photographer even try to help the man or shout for any of the “gasping” others to help? Maybe folks were afraid the victim might pull them into the rail pit too. (understandable) The transit managers should find a way to install foot holds or ledges on the walls near the subway loading areas so it’s easier for a person to climb out. The story also mentions that the victim was intoxicated which complicates things even more.

  • Clevelandchick

    If 2 people would have grabbed him, he would have they could have pulled him up – that includes this photographer, but publishing this pic is beyond the bounds of ethics. Imagine being a family member or spouse seeing this picture of your loved one about to die splashed all over the city.

    • http://AMERICAblog.com/ John Aravosis

      I’d really like a better sense of just how much time there was before the train hit.

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