Starving child in southern Sudan - Kevin Carter

© NY Times 

In 1993, South African Kevin Carter was working as photojournalist in the Sudan when he shot this incredibly moving and controversial photo of a starving child trying to reach a nearby food center. He subsequently sold the photo to the New York Times, and it would be printed in newspapers all over the world. He would eventually win the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography because of this image. The image would become a metaphor for the famine that was gripping much of Africa.

Early in his career Carter worked for the Johannesburg Star, bent on exposing the brutality of apartheid. In 1993 he went to Sudan to report on the effects the famine had on the people of this small African country.[1]

There are conflicting accounts of how Carter got the photo and he was criticized by some of his colleges for partially staging the image. He would later go on to say, "I was appalled at what they were doing. I was appalled at what I was doing. But then people started talking about those pictures... then I felt that maybe my actions hadn't been at all bad. Being a witness to something this horrible wasn't necessarily such a bad thing to do."[2]

It is a significant image to be sure. For me, the image brings up a very real moral questions when it comes to reporting the news. In cases like this are journalists simply there to report what they see or are they morally obligated to intervene? One could argue that the image brought worldwide attention to a situation that had largely been ignored up to that point. Many people would be moved to act because of how that image made them feel. It is a true testament of the power of the image.

On the other hand, was carter’s obligation as a journalist outweighed by his obligation as a human being?  Where do we draw that line? History is replete with such examples of those who saw fit to simply record what they saw, and not interfere. Are they right or are they wrong? I really don’t know. I can really see both sides of this issue.

As long as the darker side of humanity is present and there are those whose job it is to record such things, this question will continue.

A few months after the publication of the image Carter committed suicide. He was apparently struggling with depression and coping with the recent death of a close friend and colleague. He was 33 years old.

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[1] http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/29/world/kevin-carter-a-pulitzer-winner-for-sudan-photo-is-dead-at-33.html

[2] First draft by Tim Porter: Covering war in a free society