Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

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Most other newspapers, in Ireland and worldwide, used versions of the dead child on page one….we used what I think is the strongest image as the lead image on the first foreign news page. On page one we carried a picture of Michael Fingleton matching a report on his evidence to the Banking Inquiry.

…Were we right not to use the picture on page one?

In hindsight probably not – by the time we went to press later last night the images had gone viral and were all over news bulletins and Twitter.

The shock element by the time the paper hit the newsstands this morning was gone and most readers would have understood that these heartbreaking images of a dead innocent child… say more about our failure in Europe to deal with the refugee crisis than an acre of print.

Frank Millar, picture editor of the irish Times

Should this image have been shown at all? Should we have used it on page one? (Frank Millar, Irish Times)

How the photo of Aylan Kurdi resonated with Irish Examiner readers (irishExaminer)

Pic: Paul Sammon

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20 thoughts on “Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

  1. Manta Rae

    Pun head on this piece is not exactly tasteful, given that that the poor wee boy died in the ‘deep blue sea..’

  2. fmong

    The INDO ran it really small but had the headline ‘A DROWNED TODDLER – THE HARROWING SYMBOL OF EU’S MIGRANT CRISIS” really big, which is sort of like having your cake and eating it.. “we didn’t run the photo big, but we didn’t shy away from the the story either” so not much better then the Irish Times…

    The UK Indo cover is incredibly emotionally stirring.. these awful images, and what the represent can be done well, in a thought provoking way if due care, thought and taste is applied..

    #editoraldesignnerd

  3. Charger Salmons

    The Examiner used the picture but then couldn’t help themselves by cropping it and blowing up the body of the child in the picture.
    Memo to picture editor of the Examiner – the original picture was strong enough without your flat-footed intervention.

  4. Spaghetti Hoop

    Given that this one image has aroused so much global attention and motivated the public – which will now translate into donations and humanitarian aid, why be all self-righteous and cowardly about publishing it? The IT played this game before. It sounds like one man’s opinion and inability to approach a story with any ounce of gumption.

    1. classter

      Bit harsh on this one, I think.

      I’m not all that comfortable with the fact that all the other papers have put a picture of a dead toddler on the front page – the Examiner’s image being the worst of all.

      1. Spaghetti Hoop

        Disagree. I’m of the Robert Fisk school of thought ; more media reporting of catastrophe, less talent show celeb nonsense. And for those that thing a long editorial on page 30 is sufficient, it’s not. The world’s conflicts and pain are best portrayed in imagery.

      2. ahjayzis

        I think the reaction is proving your point. It’s about time we became uncomfortable about what’s happening. The reaction to it might represent a turning point.

  5. Janet, I ate my avatar

    France has decided not to bother and to stick to reporting the strike of the farmers…..

  6. Joe

    tis crude and sloppy journalism to publish that image, have journalist got so lazy that they can’t evoke a reaction with their words. shamefully exploiting the death of a child.

  7. Atticus

    It’s a sad state of affairs that it takes a picture of a dead baby to finally get people talking about this crisis in a serious way. Apparently reporting that 100/150/200 men, women and children drown in the sea just isn’t good enough to move people to do something, apparently we need pictures to wake us up.

    1. Janet, I ate my avatar

      We live in times where most people click through information so quickly they are not bothered to read. Sadly only shock captures the numbed masses attention.

      1. Disasta

        Must have something to do with the obscene amount of choice garbage we’ve to sift through before you get to something of value.

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