Tag: new york

Glamorizing Crisis Images

It’s not a uncommon occurrence even though social media makes it easier to do. Glamorizing images of tragedy always makes the news. Its the same problem that had to be addressed when print news became enhanced by the introduction of photography: how much is too much to show? And what is the purpose of it all?

Now, take a look at these two:

New York FD Tweet
This is from the New York Fire Department with the caption, ” Now: Photo of #Manhattan collapse. #FDNY has 39 units and 168 members responding. The scene is developing.”
And here is Seattle Fire Department’s tweet captioned, “2 DOAs at helicopter crash scene near space needle.”

 

The first is by the New York Fire Department is taken during the struggle of attending a fallen building.
It personally reminds me of the fact that those who took the picture are risking their lives (since the picture was most likely taken from one of the department’s helicopter cameras). On the other hand of course, I am instantly reminded of those who may have lost their lives in this catastrophe, and have to hope that the posting was more than just a publicity stunt.

That’s namely what this controversy boils down to in the end.Was such a picture posted in efforts of Public Relations for the department? Or merely as news update? For news updates are supposed to be important information shared with the public, which sometimes has to unfortunately include tragedy whether we like it or not. But on the converse side, using these images as a glorification of the fire departments does seem insensitive.

Which brings us to our next culprit, which received a significant amount of social media backlash for their posting: the Seattle Fire Department, who proudly tweeted a scene of a fatal accident.
Yes, helicopter crashes don’t happen every day anywhere, but does that means its okay to post an image of someone’s death with a filter on it?
One unimpressed Twitter user responded, “that’s really hip, seattle fire department put a cool instagram filter on their news report of two dead on arrivals.”

Just like the photo editing filters you use for your selfies, the picture doesn’t look natural… indicating that whomever posted it thought it looked more dramatic with a certain hue change. And the editing of any picture doesn’t read off as “news” to me, but rather an attention-grabbing technique (and a shameful one as well).