Posted on 12/05/2012 9:36:33 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Some journalistic values are not necessarily the same as human values -- a fact that explains much about the uproar over Tuesday's front-page photo in the New York Post. "Pushed on the subway track, this man is about to die," screamed the headline under the word: "DOOMED."
The man's name was Ki Suk Han, a 58-year-old North Korean immigrant from Queens. The photo capturing the last seconds of his life has provoked soul-searching and outrage over journalistic ethics -- or lack of them.
Practically nobody is defending the Post for publishing it -- or its photographer for taking it. Aside from journalistic misconduct, there were disquieting reports that none of the 18 bystanders bothered to help Han. Yet various witnesses said he was on the tracks for a minute or more, scrambling to pull himself onto the platform.
Overwhelmingly, outrage over the photo is being directed at photographer R. Umar Abbasi, a freelancer for the iconic tabloid that regularly trades in sensational stories.
As the subway bore down on Han, Abbasi snapped photos of him clinging to the platform - instead of helping him up from the tracks. Or at least, that's how it seemed.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
“journalistic ethics”
stopped there
Here’s the story for those who are not New Yorkers...
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/nightmare_on_subway_tracks_GgvCtkeJj6cTeyxHns2VNP
EXCERPT:
A 30-year-old man confessed today to being the subway psycho who “launched” an innocent straphanger into tracks, where he was killed by an oncoming Q train, law enforcement sources told The Post.
The suspect, Naeem Davis, was being questioned today in Manhattan, in connection to the grisly death of Ki Suk Han, 58, yesterday afternoon. The man was picked up on 50th Street near Seventh Avenue by a transit police captain, who was on a coffee break at 1:30 p.m. and ran over to grab him.
Davis confessed to shoving Han into tracks, though he’s not been formally charged yet, law enforcement sources said.
Han, of Elmherst, Queens, desperately tried to scramble back to the platform as onlookers screamed, shouted and frantically waved their hands and bags in a bid to get the downtown Q train to stop at around 12:30 p.m.
The man being questioned by cops was identified as a 30-year-old street vendor from Queens, according to law enforcement sources.
Post freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi — who had been waiting on the platform of the 49th Street station — ran toward the train, repeatedly firing off his flash to warn the operator.
“I just started running, running, hoping that the driver could see my flash,” said Abbasi, whose camera captured chilling shots of Suk’s tragic fight for his life.
The train slowed, but a dazed and bruised Han still wound up hopelessly caught between it and the platform as it came to a halt.
A shaken Abbasi said the train “crushed him like a rag doll.”
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST...
Anybody with any knowledge of photography can tell that the photo was shot with a telephoto lens from a long distance away.
The photographer was simply not close enough to beat that train. Period.
Can’t really blame the Post for doing with a photo what the New York Times does every, single day of the year with text.
Papers that don’t feature nasty events, crisis, and even manufactured doom and gloom don’t get sold - they sit on the news stand and gather dust.
There is the heavy stench of hypocrisy in the air.
“journalistic ethics
Now there is an oxymoron.”
Kind of like “liberal politics” and “intellectual honesty” being used together in the same sentence
Why did Han get into an argument with this African street vendor? It’s always stupid to get into pointless arguments with strangers and road rage arguments. You can never win anything in an argument. You can only lose.
Save us. Blacks are not accountable for anything.
Reminds me of an article in LIFE magazine about 42 years ago. I think I still have it somewhere but am too lazy to look it up.
In Africa, a photographer catches a crocodile attacking an antelope. A hippo runs down and scares the croc off. The hippo stays around nuzzling the antelope, then the antelope dies and the hippo leaves while the croc reclaims it’s prize.
The next week there was a letter to the editor ripping up the photographer for not going down and helping that poor antelope.
I was on that NY subway a few months ago. From the looks of the photo no one could get to the man in time, those trains really FLY!
The photo dude did try. He and the others were at a distance from the melee. And after it happened, he started flashing the oncoming train and others ran toward the victim. They just didn't make it in time.
So, what ya gonna do if a person who has been drinking and a mental patient fight in front of a oncoming train?
Go help the victim, while having the potential of being pulled into the train.
It is easy to be brave from a distance.
If the victim was black, it would have been a hate crime.
Merely a symptom of the sickness that is now America. Sad, truly sad to see my country plummet is such a short period of time.
Remarkably well composed shots, coincidentally.
maybe the photographer had to catch a plane to Vegas for a fund-raiser
It’s too bad this guy panicked. There are a few ways to survive being on the tracks when a train is coming. He’s fixated on the train which is natural, I guess.
Apparently the FAMILY of the victim claimed he was drunk! Turning out to be more to this story. Probably everyone started edging away from the two of them.
I haven’t seen any reports of an argument between them. Do you have a link to one?
amazing how steady the camera stays for somebody who is running...
Though, I haven't seen that video again.
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