Everyday Ethics

By Bob Steele
Nelson Poynter Scholar for Journalism Values

A New York Times story on the war in Iraq illustrates the classic journalistic tension between revealing truth and causing harm.

The story on Monday, Jan. 29, dominated the front page of the Times and a multimedia version ran on the Times' web site.

RELATED RESOURCES

CJR Daily notes that the blogosphere is not at all happy with the Times for running this story.

"'Man Down': When One Bullet Alters Everything," by reporter Damien Cave with photos by Robert Nickelsberg, offers a close-up account of the danger American soldiers experience in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Hector Leija and other soldiers are searching for illegal weapons inside apartments on Haifa Street in central Baghdad. Leija is hit in the head by a bullet fired through the apartment window. He falls to the kitchen floor, badly wounded.
 
Cave vividly describes soldiers rushing to Leija's aid and dragging him to a safe position. A photo in the paper and the Times' online video show soldiers evacuating Sergeant Leija on a stretcher.

Screengrab from nytimes.com

The Times story continues with a gripping account of the other platoon members risking danger in recovering Leija's gear and his helmet, then securing the building and resuming their street patrol with a band of Iraqi soldiers as gunfire continues in that neighborhood.

Then the story's last line: "A few hours later, the word came in: Sergeant Leija had died."

I believe this story did what journalism is supposed to do. It took us to a place that we needed to go. It took us to the heart of a military conflict that, no matter what your politics or your views on the war in Iraq, should be of great concern to everyone.

The Times has been criticized for the photograph and the video showing the dying soldier. While Sergeant Leija's family in Texas was aware of his death before the Times story was published, some family members have criticized the story. A cousin told the Houston Chronicle that the photo and video increased their grief.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES A statement from The New York Times, as quoted by E&P, captures the ethical challenge of honoring the principle of "truth telling" and the principle of "minimizing harm." "The New York Times is extremely sensitive to the loss suffered by families when loved ones are killed in Iraq. We try to write with respect and compassion for the inevitable losses. We believe this article was a portrait of Sergeant Leija's courage under fire and showed how much his men respected and cared for him..."

And, according to a story in Editor and Publisher, military officials said the Times journalists "broke an embed rule that barred the publication of such photos," though it was unclear whether the journalists involved had violated standards and, if so, what that should mean to their embed privileges. In my view, the military has been inconsistent in how those rules for embedded journalists have been interpreted and applied in Iraq.

"Man Down" is a tough story to read and watch. It reveals the horror of war. You can feel the fear. You are touched by the death.

"Man Down" also reveals dimensions of the heroism of warriors. You see the courage. You sense the loyalty.

No single story ever achieves truth with a capital "T," but "Man Down" offers us a truthful account of what happened in those moments, on that day, in that place.

At the same time, it's quite possible that the story and the photographs caused some harm. They likely added weight to the grief Sergeant Leija's family was already experiencing with his death. That is an unfortunate but understandable consequence of what journalism does when it carries out its unique and essential duty -- independently informing the public about important events and issues.

As a reader, a journalist and a Viet Nam vet, I found the Times story respectful in tone and tenor. The photos and video were revealing without being exploitive. Especially in a story like this, it's not always possible to avoid doing some harm. The challenge is to minimize the harm, and I believe the Times accomplished that in this case.

This story deserved to be published. It deserves our attention.