Of unethical pictures in the media

On Sunday morning, I woke up and opened my Twitter account. I was shocked by what I found there. Sunday News, one of the most nation-wide read papers had published a picture of a high school girl who was drugged, raped and dumped by suspected omnibus drivers.

I could not believe my eyes! The picture was out there online for everyone to see. Suddenly I realised that the story had probably made it to the front page of the paper and I was even more worried that they ran the very same picture with the story.

So I rushed to purchase the paper and there was the story on the front page, with the picture on the front page. Only this time, the paper had attempted to cover the face of the young girl.

Then it hit me, not only was the picture unnecessary as it added no value to the story, but it was grossly unethical.

It is unethical to publish a picture of a rape victim, even partially. It exposes the victim to secondary harm.

When I first saw the picture on Twitter, I was left with two questions. What kind of a media practitioner does this? Do they even know about ethics and the purposes they are meant to serve? I was even shocked that the editor of the paper allowed the picture to be published both online and on the paper.

The fact that the face of the victim was disguised is no justification for publishing. Under no circumstances do you run a story with the picture of a rape victim. Those who know her-peers, friends, and neighbours- can identify her through her clothing. To make matters worse, the picture that was published online showed her face from a side view. In my opinion, publishing that picture is just as good as publishing the name of the victim.

Imagine if it were your sister, your mother, your grandmother and even your brother who was raped and you woke up to find her picture online!

What kind of journalists are we that put the economic interests of the paper at the expense of the people that we cover? What kind of journalists are we who further victimise the abused? How do we even sleep at night! Clearly we are no better than the perpetrators themselves.

By publishing that picture, you have destroyed the life of that girl. The paper might issue an apology or even retract the story but the damage has already been done. The life of that girl will never be the same again.

And shame on each and every one of you who took pictures of the girl and distributed them on Whatsapp. Shame on you too who downloaded the picture that was published on the Sunday News website and shares it amongst yourself. You are no better than the rapists themselves.

Remember, you do unto others as you would like them to unto you.  I’m sure you wouldn’t want passer-by’s taking snapshots of you should you be found in a similar situation. I’m not wishing evil on anyone. At times, it’s important ukuzinukaamakhwapha.