On the 6th of October this year, the New York Times published an image of dead African migrants on its front page. Not only was this image on the front page, it was above the fold, meaning that it was the most prominent part of that day’s coverage. The faces of the dead migrants were not blurred out, nor were their semi-nude bodies covered.
The use of images like this to represent human suffering is a topic that I hold near and dear, both through my research,* and also on a much more visceral level.