Remember Drop The Dead Donkey, the seminal UK sitcom set in a news-gathering organisation? And in particular, unscrupulous cameraman Damian Day, who would go so far as to punch a child in a war zone to get the crying shot he needed?
Look at this Associated Press photograph from the site of the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash in Beirut…
#1 by Joe at January 27th, 2010
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Are you sure that’s an AP shot? I couldn’t see a credit.
Although it looks like a cheap stunt, I’m not sure that a decent agency photographer would stage such a photo. It’s a bit of a photojournalism cliche these days to have the child’s toy in the wreckage, though of course press outlets love to publish that kind of stuff. It could be that a vigilant snapper saw an opportunity and seized it.
It was probably that or more gruesome stuff. But I simply don’t believe that photographers routinely carry around battered children’s toys so they can plant them in disaster zones.
#2 by
Andrew at January 27th, 2010
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I spotted that photo on a BBC News story which carried the AP credit under the photo, but of course the photo got replaced.