2003-09-12

... ?

Richard Drew by Peter Howe - The Digital Journalist

The one image that’s been causing a lot of discussion is one image that I shot of a man falling head-first from the building, before the buildings fell down. He was trapped in the fire, and decided to jump and take his own life, rather than being burned. I don't know. I have no idea and that has caused a lot of controversy among readers of newspapers that used the picture. There are two newspapers that have had their ombudsman write stories about the picture, explaining why they used the photograph. The Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. They received a lot of complaints, and that is only two I know about that were complaining about the picture. Our readers e-mailed and phoned, and complained that they didn't want to see this over their morning corn flakes. This was a very important part of the story. It wasn't just a building falling down, there were people involved in this. This is how it affected people's lives at that time, and I think that is why it’s an important picture. I didn't capture this person's death. I captured part of his life. This is what he decided to do, and I think I preserved that. A reporter from the Toronto Globe and Mail thinks he has traced down the family of this guy, and some people in his family don't want to believe that it is him. Other people, according to the article say it is him. Others won't even look at the picture in his family, and they are still handling their own grief about it, but that is what I like to say, I didn't capture his death, I captured part of his life. That has been very important to me.