Um caso muito interessante a publicação desta fotografia pelo jornal San Antonio Express-News. Interessante sobretudo pelas reacções dos leitores, em contraste com a publicação de uma foto anterior.

Photo of injured horse stirs complaints

A graphic photograph of a crippled racehorse on the front page of the San Antonio Express-News evoked more than 200 complaints from readers. The photo showed the horse on her knees with her front legs broken and her nose in the dirt. The horse was euthanized shortly after the photo was taken.

Some readers felt the photo and accompanying story should not have appeared on the front page while others suggested its placement was designed to sell newspapers. Editors at the paper think otherwise. The story "showed that behind the glamour of racing there is this underbelly," said editor Audrey Lee, who decided to put the story and photo on the front page. "We knew it (the photo) was emotionally charged content. We knew it would evoke strong reaction. However, most of us felt that when you read the story, the photo illustrated perfectly the plight of some of these horses."

Interestingly, the newspaper recently ran a photo, albeit not on the front page, of a 1916 lynching in Waco, Texas. The newspaper's ombudsman received just two calls in response, neither of which objected to using the photo.

Bob Richter in The San Antonio Express News

Também publicado no blogue Os Media, o Jornalismo e Nós.