OVER the past few years the Paarl Post front-page photographs published, have always been arresting, albeit exceptional (some of them on the spot), unfortunately others have been in the poorest taste imaginable.
It was the photo on the front page of Paarl Post Thursday 8 February that has had me heartbroken ever since. The photograph of the bloodied, grief-stricken and crazed mother clutching her infant looking for her other children has finally been too much.
Being an accredited journalist myself I am fully aware of the difference between the objective reporting of facts and marketing sensationalism and poor taste.
The fact that the family and friends of the lady in question were not considered, nor the fact that she was well-known and respected, only bears distinct indications of the poor judgment of both the reporter as well as the editor.
Where is the dignity and privacy allotted to human beings in the face of such a devastating tragedy.
The photo of the overturned car and resulting story of drunk and irresponsible drivers would have been an adequate, succinct and sufficient selling point, to bring across the whole editorial.
B Truter
The editor responds: Our journalist was badly shaken by the accident scene. She knows the Post family from the farmers’ markets.
The fact that the booze bottles lay strewn from the car in which the students had been driving, made the senselessness of such a collision and ensuing tragedy even worse.
Everyone is entitled to his or her feelings.
We can just mention that other acquaintances of the Posts found the photograph “touching” and included the family (and the students) in their prayers.
