Posts Tagged 'Iraq'

Next Entries »

Update: Zoriah Miller Story Goes Far and Wide

Published July 26, 2008 Photographers' Rights 1 Comment
Tags: , , ,

Both the New York Times and the UK’s Guardian picked up photographer Zoriah Miller‘s story, which we posted on last week. Miller lost his embed status in Iraq after posting photos of bodies of marines killed in combat on his blog. (The marines were not identifiable.)

The New York Times piece says that, in contrast to the Vietnam war where the media had much access, five years in Iraq and over 4,000 US military deaths has produced only a handful of graphic images, which is absolutely incredible when you think about it.

From the New York Times:

“It is absolutely censorship,” Mr. Miller said. “I took pictures of something they didn’t like, and they removed me. Deciding what I can and cannot document, I don’t see a clearer definition of censorship.”

It’s nice to see this story finally getting the attention it deserves.

Military Sends Embedded Photog Home

Published July 18, 2008 Photographers' Rights 11 Comments
Tags: , ,

 
Photo courtesy of Zoriah

In another case of the government trying to sanitize war, photographer Zoriah Miller lost his embedded status when he published photos of dead soldiers on his blog.

From an article in PDN Online, the military claimed Zoriah published photos of casualties of a suicide bombing in the Iraqi province of  Anbar before the marines’ families were notified, which is against their rules. Zoriah, who goes by his first name professionally, says he did no such thing, publishing them on June 30, four days after the June 26 attack and after he’d heard the families were notified.

The military told him that his posting had “supplied the enemy with information on the effectiveness of attack.” To which Zoriah said that he didn’t provide any information the enemy didn’t already have access to from the New York Times, Reuters, et al. — and no soldier was identifiable from his photos. He says military officials even went so far as to try to get him blacklisted so that he’d be unable to ever embed again, although since then it’s been determined that he can keep his credentials.

A military spokesman claims he was sent home because  “the unit commander lost faith and confidence with Mr. Miller and his ability to remain within the ground rules.” 

Zoriah says:

“They embedded a war photographer, and when I took a photo of war, they disembedded me. It’s as if it’s okay to take pictures of them handing lollipops to kids on the street and providing medical care, but photographing the actual war is unacceptable.”

Article from PDN Online.

See Zoriah’s Anbar Province attack post here.

Photojournalist Grapples with Famous Photo

Published July 16, 2008 Photographers' Rights , Photojournalism Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

In this article in Sunday’s Washington Post, former Army Times photographer Warren Zinn writes about learning that the subject of perhaps his most famous photo had killed himself. In 2003, Zinn took a photo of Army medic Joseph Dwyer carrying a wounded Iraqi boy that was hailed for its power and message of heroic sacrifice. Dwyer, 31, who was battling PTSD, died of an overdose on June 28. That lead Zinn, who is now attending law school in Miami, to do some soul-searching of his own. As he writes:  

Did this photo have anything to do with his death? News reports said he hated the celebrity that came with the picture. How much, I wondered, did that moment — just 1/250th of a second when three lives intersected on a river bank in Iraq — contribute to the burdens he’d brought home with him? If I’d never taken his picture, would he have ended up as he did? 

After four rotations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Zinn decided the risk wasn’t worth it anymore. He heard from Dwyer via email intermittently, the last one in 2004 saying, “Now looking back on it, it’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever done. I hope you feel the same about what you have done. I truly believe you played an important role in this war. You told everyone’s story.”

 

But Zinn seems circumspect about that role and his notoriety, writing: 

I’m a little embarrassed when people call the photo iconic or compare it with other famous photos. I was a photojournalist doing my job, just like hundreds of others in Iraq. There were countless pictures produced during the invasion that were better composed, better exposed and more compelling.

 Article from The Washington Post. 

Spam Blocked

1,139,139 spam blocked by Akismet