French magazine publishes photos of attack on DHL plane in Iraq
I can understand that, as journalists, the Frenchmen who witnessed this atrocity might not have been in a position to intervene. Nonetheless, doesn't Paris Match have a moral responsibility NOT to publicize and glorify terrorism??
RIS (AFP) - French weekly magazine, Paris Match, is to publish exclusive pictures of what it says are Iraqi rebels launching a missile attack on a German DHL cargo plane over Baghdad that led to a shutdown of commercial air traffic to the Iraqi capital.
The images were taken by one of the magazine's photographers, Jerome Sessini, who was with the attackers -- described in the accompanying article as "Iraqi guerrillas" -- at the time of Saturday's missile strike, editor-in-chief Alain Genestar told AFP on Wednesday.
He said Sessini and a special correspondent sent to Iraq (news - web sites), Claudine Verniez-Palliez, had been with the group for several days beforehand and were unaware they were about to witness the attack.
"They had been asked to come see caches of arms very close to Baghdad and didn't discover the real reason for the operation until the last minute," Genestar said.
The pictures, seen in an advance copy of the Thursday edition of the magazine, show a group of men wearing scarves over the heads and faces brandishing grenade launchers, and one man holding then firing a shoulder-launched missile, said in the article to be one of two Russian-made "Strella" SA-7 surface-to-air units.
In the article, Verniez-Palliez writes the rebels thought they had spotted a US military plane and the leader gave the order to fire.
But Genestar rejected accusations that his magazine could be seen to be sympathising with the Iraqi rebels.
"We don't make the perpetrators of this act to be heroes," he said, adding the correspondent and photographer had been brought back to France "for safety reasons".
If the aircraft in question had been an American military transport with American soldiers aboard, would Paris Match have published the photographs? I'd be willing to hazard a bet that they would have, accompanied by a huge advertising campaign designed to sell even more issues. After all, it's all about selling magazines, and if it bleeds it leads- even in Paris.
I suppose there is a story in these photographs, but should it really be the job of the press to function as press attaches for terrorists? This is the worst kind of journalism imaginable. Not only is Paris Match complicit in this attack through their willingness to endorse terrorism in the effort to sell magazines, they are glorifying attempted murder.
What would we be seeing if the photographers had been accompanying these terrorists as they set up a roadside ambush of American soldiers? I shudder to think of the possibilities.
