Kevin Carter Research Paper

Introduction:
The sun beat down mercilessly with every ray a relentless tide pressing the small, starving, hopeless, little girl into the ground while the symbol of impeding death, a vulture, stares the child down as if she were carrion. Just feet away stands Kevin Carter, a young South African photojournalist dedicated to exposing the vile nature of apartheid and injustice, who captured this iconic image (1) for which he’d later receive a Pulitzer Prize. After taking this photograph, Carter chose not to intervene other than by driving the bird away leaving the child deep in her plight. While the gravity of the situation is not lost on me, and, while my heart aches for this child, I do not believe Carter’s actions were unethical. This issue

He was born of English decent to parents who went along with the status quo of apartheid (2). He could have gone down that path as well living a comfortable life, but even as a young man he internalized the injustice which turned into anger then action as early as his childhood. Carter served a brief stint in the South African Defense Force where he saw government backed oppression of people firsthand (2). Even at this stage of life, his sense of right and wrong were well developed as we can tell by a beating he received from fellow soldier for defending a black waiter in the mess hall (2). He later took his desire to do something about this injustice to the world of photography by going into the heart of where the atrocities of the time were happening and documenting them (2). He witness beatings, murders, police harassment, was arrested multiple times, and was in harm’s way often enough he and his three fellow freelance photographers were given the nickname of “The Bang-Bang Club” (2). Carter’s actions and self-sacrifice help make the case that he was dedicated to using journalism as a tool to expose and defeat inequality and brutal treatment of people.
After years of documenting and exposing the horrors of apartheid, Carter journeyed to Sudan to document the famines going on at the time. At this point, he took the controversial image of the little girl fighting with all her will to survive, and then he did

It can be argued that intervening overrides any journalistic ethics since a life is at stake, and I fully understand that point of view. In fact, I intended to write this opinion piece to argue he was unethical at first. However, I believe that when we look at his desire to help, his lack of fear of persecution, his willingness to sacrifice himself, his knowledge that help was all around, his situation of having guards with him, and his advisement not to make physical contact with any sick people then we can see his decision was informed and likely made knowing she would be