Photos by Nick Ut, 8 June 1972 & 2007As a photographer and journalist myself, I just have to fret about this, it's too freakin' much: The other day Paris Hilton went back to the slammer - I couldn't care less and that's not what this is about. Her village wasn't bombed, her family wasn't killed, her body wasn't disfigured and she didn't have to leave the country in fear of her life. Just off to a few weeks in the shadows. But there was a little Asian-looking guy who took her picture as she was sobbing in tears, and since she is a top celebrity, this was the top story in American media and that picture probably went around the world as well, to a great many newspapers. Really important stuff, eeh? (sic!). But this is where it gets freaky: The name of the photographer was Nick Ut! Ring a bell? Probably not, but I'm sure you know one of his previous photo's: "The napalm girl". The photo of another crying girl, but this one is running naked down the road, covered in napalm, her village is burning in the background and soldiers are walking around with their guns. And the really freaky thing: These two "crying girl"-pictures are not only taken by the same guy, but they are taken on the exact same date, June 8, the only difference being the year, 1972 / 2007. 35 years to the date! Doesn't it show what has happened to photojournalism? Or at least to the public demand... Why the heck do people care so much about the trivial life of celebrities while "real people" living in the "real world" are still living (and dying) in truly dramatic ways. Hundreds of children die of malnutrition every single day - and that's just here in Nepal. But nobody takes any photo's of that, since it's not nearly as important as some celebrity with a new boy/girlfriend, right? All right, I'll stop nagging about the decline of times. I know, celebrities are easier to identify with, feels like we actually know them and too gruesome pictures of reality might just spoil our appetite - and the advertisers wouldn't like that, would they? Today, the photography business is driven by the market. Back then, it was driven much more by the photographers and photo editors with journalistic ideals. I think. Actually, I'm not old enough to remember. And I also know that things weren't perfect back then. The German people didn't rise up with a public outcry against Hitler when he prepared for war. 70 years later, the American people didn't rise up with a public outcry against George W. Bush when he prepared for war either. Both wars were sold to the public with lies, misinformation and intimidations. To wrap it up, photojournalists have a really important role to play and I just hope that in this rapidly changing media world, there'll be a prominent place for critical and concerned photographs that can help to affect public opinion and - in turn - make influence on policy, just like that photo of "The napalm girl" did.
