Kevin Carter Ethical Issues

631 Words3 Pages

Introduction: Kevin Carter was born in South Africa and became a photojournalist to document the cruel punishment civilians where receiving in his home country. Carter gained notoriety for his photographs taken in South Africa when one photo was published in the New York Times depicting the famine happening there. The photograph captured a young malnourished child with a vulture stalking her in the background. This photograph won him a Pulitzer Prize, which is awarded for achievements in journalism, drama, literature, and music (1). After the photograph was published, it became a whirlwind of ethical debate. In this particular circumstance, I believe Carter acted accordingly and any other photographer in his position would have acted this way. Body: Kevin Carter began his career in photography as a freelance for The Sunday Express, which was a tabloid (2). Carter left and aligned himself with several other photojournalists who wanted to show the violence happening in South African. This group received the nickname, Bang-Bang Club (5). While photographing, they witnessed terrible actions such as murders, stabbings, necklacing, and many other horrendous acts (5). …show more content…

While on this assignment, he was surrounded by armed soldiers who were there to keep him and the other photographers from interfering (5). The girl captured in the photograph was on her way to a United Nations feeding center and stopped to rest and a vulture happened to land nearby. Carter, being a photojournalist, waited for about twenty minutes for the vulture to be perfectly positioned and capture this controversial photograph (3). After the photograph was published in The New York Times, people poured in with questions surrounding what happened to the girl and why he had not helped her. Carter answered by informing them she had made it to the feeding center but was unsure of what happened