How we handle graphic photos at the Star
This week, we look at how editors deal with pictures from a fatality
This story is part of the Star’s trust initiative, where, every week, we take readers behind the scenes of our journalism.
In the foreground, a black bicycle lies on its side in the middle of the road, its front wheel and handlebar bent into awkward angles. What looks like a black bag lies beside the bike. In the background, a few metres feet away, a flatbed truck sits motionless. Two police personnel stand nearby.
That’s a description of a photo published in the Toronto Star last week showing the scene on June 12 at the intersection of Bloor and St. George Sts., where Dalia Chako, 58, a grandmother who loved cycling, was hit and killed in a collision with a flatbed truck.
A disturbing image, to be sure, the publication of which was the subject of intense discussions among editors in the newsroom. There were other photos from the scene, all taken by Star photographer Lucas Oleniuk, that were even more graphic in nature that were under consideration. This week, we take a behind-the-scenes look at the factors editors considered when deciding which photo of this tragic event to publish.
Originally, in the afternoon on the day of the collision, the plan was to use a photo of the collision scene that showed a tarp lying beside the crushed bicycle.
But that changed when photo assignment editor Tim Finlan flagged that the tarp was in fact covering the body of the victim. So began a discussion in the middle of the newsroom that grew to include more than half a dozen editors about whether the photo was too graphic to publish.
“On one side, we have to be really sensitive about using photos that show victims’ bodies, even if they are completely covered,” said Catherine Wallace, assistant managing editor of news.
“It becomes so easy to imagine it could have been my mother or sister or friend who died in the accident. How would I feel if a picture of their body covered by a tarp was in the paper? It’s a question of dignity and respect.”
On the other hand, cycling deaths are a serious issue, one the city has been grappling with for years, Wallace noted.
“When there is a terrible accident like this one, we want people to pay attention. We want people to stop and think and say, ‘this can’t continue, things must change,’ ” she said. “Sometimes it’s important to be shocked and upset — for a newspaper to shock and upset people — and photographs are one of the best ways of doing that.”
As editors gathered around the photo desk to examine the image closely, they kept coming back to one question: Was this the time to shock and upset people?
Oleniuk volunteered to return to the scene in an attempt to capture the gravity of the situation without the body in frame.
The Star has chosen to publish photos depicting bodies in the past, such as the image of Alan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian refugee who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in 2015, and the picture of the body of a teenage Haitian girl shot dead by police in 2010. Decisions to publish such images are made on a case-by-case basis.
Ultimately, Wallace and senior news editor Marie Sutherland decided, given the recent nature of the incident and the sensitivities mentioned above, it was not the right time. Instead, Oleniuk’s photo described above and pictured here — without the image of the body — was chosen for publication that day.
The next day, a different photo that showed the tarp over the body was published on thestar.com, with a story looking at the broader issue of cyclist safety on Toronto’s streets.
“The thing about the discussion that was so challenging, and I think the reason so many editors spontaneously joined in, is that there is no right or wrong answer in a situation like this.
Both sides were right: It was a terrible personal tragedy, and it was also a symbol of a city-wide danger that we should all be paying more attention to,” Wallace said. “You can’t have hard and fast rules about photo use. You have to be open each time to considering the context. No two situations are ever, ever the same.”
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