To think that pic of the bare-tummied lady should not have been used?

[Chestnut99]

I am appalled at how many newspapers and websites have used the pic of the poor lady in an open yellow jacket/blouse who is sitting on a bench, dazed and in shock with her buttons blown off and her bra and tummy showing (Evening Standard yesterday, front page of today's Times etc etc). The least we can do for a victim of hideous terrorist attacks is respect her dignity, not plaster her over the media.

The Daily Mail has gone one further by finding a reason to repeat the pic today in a special "human interest" article naming her and telling us what her job is.

I would be utterly appalled if my own state of traumatised shock was taken advantage of in the same way, before I had come round and realised I was half dressed and showing my underwear. Shame on them all.

I'm not going to link to the pic because that will just make it worse. I am not usually particularly outspoken but I have complained to IPSO - //www.ipso.co.uk - about this because it intrudes on her privacy and her shock.

Poor woman - and poor Belgium

[Quiero]

I'd argue that we have to rethink media coverage of these atrocities completely. Watching rolling news and see them try and bleed every last bit of drama out of the situation was almost as sickening as the act itself. It also plays right in to the hands of ISIS.

Having said that, I'm not sure what the answer is. It's very important to remember that these types of atrocities go on EVERYDAY with much greater loss of life and never get any coverage. The whole thing just seems like a self perpetuating cycle. The whole FB response and the Belgian flags all just feel odd to me. We're getting caught up in the drama and forgetting to look at the bigger picture. And yes, that picture of that poor woman was hideous on so many levels!

[LIZS]

I agree, it was unnecessary and makes uncomfortable viewing but not as a symbol of the atrocity. The lady was in no position to consent to the photo being either taken or published and it infringed her privacy.

[FrenchJunebug]

For those interested the Belgium newspapers who first printed the picture did apologise www.levif.be/actualite/belgique/madame-a-la-veste-jaune/article-opinion-482017.html and the photographer posted this

[oliviaclottedcream]

Of course I'm projecting my own assumptions about how I would feel if it were you? That's how empathy works? What a daft remark!! I seriously doubt this woman has had time to be as considered and balanced as to form a view, especially one of pride, about her image being plastered all over the press Ice!!

This is about intruding on a hapless victim of an atrocity who is in a state of extreme trauma. Taking her image and using it as a visual symbol of how appalling it all is. They needn't have done so. Its actually lazy and unimaginative of the publication to publish it as well as deeply insensitive of the photographer.

I'm old enough to remember the space shuttle disaster in the mid 1980's, when the BBC apologised for constantly repeating footage showing the gathered crowd at the live launch and their faces and reactions to seeing that particular terrible event. This is no different IMO

[PresidentCJCregg]

Well, why else would a photographer be there, other than to document it? Of course that's her instinct. It's her job! She's not there to deliver first aid, no matter what you might think about that.

I remember reading that Greg Marinovich and his photographer girlfriend made a pact during the Bosnian conflict; they took 5 seconds to do what they could to help, but then they would start photographing.

[Helmetbymidnight]

For me, it's nothing to do with clothes or anything.
It's the lack of control/choice.
But then I don't like it when mates take photos of me drunk at parties- and put them on FB so there's no way I'd like to be photographed two minutes after narrowly surviving a terrorist attack- and worse for my shock and distress to become the 'iconic image'...

That's the world we live in though, I get that.

[IceBeing]

All the people saying that the woman's dignity has been violated - are you sure you aren't just projecting your own assumptions about how you would feel if it were you?

I don't know how I would feel if I was ever in that position. I think I wouldn't give a shit either way if people saw my bra or tummy...but I can't know because I haven't been there.

The woman might be proud that her photo has made people think.

I also think it is a little bit body shaming to assume anyone photographed with their tummy/bra on show must be feeling humiliated about it.

Why should a woman be assumed to feel humiliated by her bra being seen? I don't think bras are shameful!

[landrover]

It is possible that the lady has given her permission, folks!

[oliviaclottedcream]

Imagine the photographer stumbling around the debris and carnage, crouching down in front of this poor traumatised woman -- snapping away? What an insensitive, thoughless c**t!

[May09Bump]

I can't understand the first instinct being to take your camera out, rather than to render aid - even if its giving these injured your coat or holding their hand until help arrived. I understand the instinct to run and get yourself out, sometimes it takes over, but it's a lack of humanity to take photos in these circumstances.

Don't even get me started with the picture of the baby with his / her poor mother.

I think you can get a sense of the devastation from other less intrusive photos. The other photos are just feeding the sick animals behind these attacks.

[Helmetbymidnight]

I don't know what I think, really.

These people have been attacked, treated as objects, a means to someone else's awful ends. The murderer is saying: You, humans, are not important.

So on one hand, it's important to document how awful that is. To never forget. To show reality etc.

But at the same time, it's important to protect those people who have suddenly been forced to become victims and to let them be people in their own right again and give them some control.

If it were me, publishing a photo of my face so that I lose anonymity, might feel like something had been taken from me. Again.

[MsMims]

Dawn it isn't about hiding from the truth. It's about basic human compassion and consideration. Would I want a photo of myself injured, in a state of shock and in my underwear to be used as a photo opportunity? Absolutely not and I would rather the same courtesy was extended to this woman.

The most important 'truth' in that moment was that woman and her wellbeing, shame the photographer didn't consider offering comfort to her instead of taking advantage of her at such a vulnerable time.

[IceBeing]

portabello maybe you could explain why you are finding the picture humiliating then? and of whom maybe? I mean if the woman pictured has said she feels humiliated by it then, yes of course. But why assume she does?

[Comiconce]

I saw the photo and felt very very uneasy. Then I heard the journalist's explanation and thought wtf. In a similar situation I know there it is 100% unlikely that I would reach for my phone and take pictures or start filming. I would instead look for help and be very concerned for the injured woman in question. She had her clothes blown off her, goodness knows the state of her airway! Just hoping she got the treatment she needed and is recovering.
As for the journalist . I hope she has the decency to donate the money she's made with this photo to charity.

[PresidentCJCregg]

I think this is a fascinating discussion. Theoretically I think a photographer's job is to act like a megaphone, shouting out into the world about what war, conflict, etc, really are, and to bring attention to small corners of the world which endure decades long war that aren't generally deemed sexy enough to be newsworthy.

I have no problem with Kevin Carter's decision to take the picture. I don't really have a problem with a picture of a woman in shock.

I do have a huge problem of a video showing a screaming, traumatised baby lying on it's mother's corpse being publicised globally. Consent clearly not an option. And the Daily Mail are using that baby as clickbait and acting as fucking recruiting sergeants for Daesh.

[PortobelloRoad]

I do not see that there is any lack of dignity or that anyone is humiliated by them though.

Then you are severely lacking in empathy.

[PortobelloRoad]

If your instinct is to tell the world and to take photos then that's what you would do. And you may well feel guilt for it after the fact.

As they bloody well should. You are categorically a bad person if you would take a picture over helping a person in distress, your "instinct" is sociopathic if you would get your camera out in that situation.

You didn't answer my question re the little boy in the picture I linked to. Do you really think nothing more could have been done? Would you be happy if that was your child?

Why did my post get deleted? Because I called someone who defends people taking pictures of people in extreme distress, quite justifiably, a scumbag? Ok

[IceBeing]

I agree these photos should not be used without consent of those photographed - in the case of those that have died, the consent of their families.

I do not see that there is any lack of dignity or that anyone is humiliated by them though.

[TinySombrero]

It is iconic I expect..

[LittleBlackTrilby]

I just went on the Daily Mail website to see if I could see the picture you mean, and instead they're leading with an image of a baby bleeding, crying, sitting on it's mother's body.

I just. What the fuck. Am really genuinely shocked.

[TinySombrero]

Speak for yourself RedToothBrush.

Re the use of I : maybe because it is a chat forum with a personal feel rather than say a political forum.

[slicedfinger]

Shocked and disappointed today to see the Guardian reprint the photograph, and run a whole piece on how it is an iconic image.

[RedToothBrush]

People are more shocked by images in Western Europe, because they are unused to seeing them and it invades their sanitised and safe view of the world.

Images of violence elsewhere are something they can detach from and say they are something that happens to those people not to people like me.

I notice how many posts in the thread use the word 'I'. Its telling about how people the world and their notions of humanity.

[holdonfor1moreday]

Off topic but if these photos are from a professional photographer why are they such bad quality out of focus etc and look like a toddler on a camera phone years old took them?