Today is the anniversary of 9/11. I didn't have a post ready for today and then I read Esquire's article on the famous Falling Man photograph from that terrible day and decided to post a link to that.
Tom Junod explores the treatment of The Falling Man photo in particular and photos of terrible events in general. Richard Drew took photos of people jumping from the towers and the Falling Man was published in newspapers all over the world on September 12. A horrified country demanded an end to publishing or airing those images out of respect for those who jumped and their families.
I have no comment except read it. The article is quite long but well worth the time.
Despite the discomfort, no one is suggesting the photographer should face criminal penalties for distributing the photos. Certainly no one is suggesting that people with copies on their computer should be subject to years in prison. And it would strike people as ludicrous that the relatives of the people who jumped could sue to collect damages from people who had copies of these pictures on their computer.
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