Blogs » Ojos Verdes » Fatal Funnel

Subscribe


 
Fatal Funnel
By FrankTilley in Ojos Verdes
July 10, 2008

Image Image
Editorial use of bodies in newspapers and magazines has been the subject of an ongoing dialogue since the civil war when Harper’s Weekly extensively used sketches from Mathew Brady photographs from the battle scene. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html

Are photos of men lying dead on the field near Gettysburg disturbing? Most certainly they are, but tragedy by its nature evokes an emotional response. As he himself said, "From the first, I regarded myself as under obligation to my country to preserve the faces of its historic men and mothers." He became one of the first photographers to use photography to chronicle national history. * http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwbrady.html

The tragic death surrounding the trafficking of human lives underscores the global issue of illegal immigration. What value do we place on human life at home and abroad? God created us with free will to decide our geo social laws and those rights transcend artificial borders.

Newspapers are a for profit business like any other enterprise, however editors recognize that they have a social obligation to serve their community built upon truth and bound by ethics.
Traditionally, the Advocate does not publish photographs of deceased individuals from news scenes. There have only been two exceptions in the 30 years that I have been a photojournalist. The first was the original breaking news story about the 19 immigrants who died five years ago, followed by the Fatal Funnel series published on the five-year anniversary. There were several conversations among editors about the value of running a photo that surely would be seen as controversial in our local community.

My professional view is that the value of documenting the truth and presenting it serves a greater purpose and that is to share with the world the truth surrounding human trafficking.
Dignity of life is too valuable to be lost in the rhetoric of illegal, unnecessary and forgotten in time. Death is an undeniable aspect of our life journey- always present but never dwelled upon. How the families perceive seeing the images is unknown to me but as a father, husband and man of God their deaths represent a moment in history that can serve a higher purpose- to influence a culture to honor life without borders
* Reference: Civil War photographs, 1861-1865 / compiled by Hirst D. Milhollen and Donald H. Mugridge, Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 1977. No. 0298