The mystery of the Page 1 photograph

Dubai: The origin of the photograph that was carried on the front page of all major UAE dailies, on Tuesday, portraying the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway horror remains a mystery.

The newspapers chose the picture because it was the most powerful image of the carnage that took place on Tuesday morning.

The photograph raised a fundamental ethical debate: Who is the photographer? What is the source?

Dubai-based English daily Khaleej Times credited it as a photograph by its reader. Arabic dailies Al Bayan and Emarat Al Youm credited it to themselves, while Al Khaleej published it without any credit. Similarly, the Sharjah-based English daily Gulf Today carried it on their front page with no attribution. While the Al Ittihad Page 1 caption clarified that it was published on several websites — the newspaper that was perhaps the most transparent on the issue.

Gulf News followed a longer path. The photograph was first sent to the newspaper as part of a chain email at 11.27am, March 11. This was followed shortly by 30 emails with the same content.

The photograph was telling. No newspaper would ignore it if they wanted to convey the magnitude of the accident.

Gulf News did not upload it to the online edition or slot it in for the print version, as there was no clear credit.

But, we were not ready to give up the photograph; the newspaper started tracking every individual marked on the chain email. As the day progressed and no person appeared to be coming forth to claim ownership, Gulf News again questioned the possibility of publishing the image.

The debate raged but the Editor-in-Chief refused to approve because there was no clear source. Finally, when it looked hopeless, at 5.55pm the international news agency Associated Press (AP) filed the photograph with their credit but without a photographer's name.

Gulf News published it on Page 1 with attribution to the wire service.

Ethics in a newspaper are about its daily decisions... hundreds of decisions that have to be weighed against the good, the bad and the ugly side of life. The front-page picture, for which, nobody truly knows the name of the photographer is an illustration of that fact. There was ambiguity in the sourcing by the international agency, too. As per norm, the news services provide the name of the photographer or source in their credit line.

This brings us back to our initial question: Who is the person who was present at the site of the accident, at the precise moment that the cars were exploding?

Gulf News would like to seek out that photographer and reward him/her for their presence of mind and a powerful image that would be the envy of any professional in the field.

In reply to Amine, I would like to remind you that the media and the Police are educating the public all they can to educate with the rules of the road. It is the attitude of the public who use the road that has to change. Without this, these kinds of disasters are bound to happen (hope this doesn't happen in this beautiful country again)
P.Mohan
Dubai,United Arab Emirates.
Posted: March 13, 2008, 13:02

What are you trying to prove here! These days, most of the population are photographers, which is linked to mobile phone cameras. It could be someone on the scene, and the real person may not be aware, as several other people who are in the same vicinity, may have clicked as well!!
Hanif
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 13, 2008, 12:10

The police man must be more careful about these kind of accidents next time. The pictures are not more important than saving the peoples' lives.
abdulla
fujairah,uae
Posted: March 13, 2008, 12:03

With all my appreciation to this great newspaper, is that your main concern? To reward this person for publicising your newspaper?Why don't you care about the affected people of this tragedy instead of this rubbish media old school talk!
osama
abu dhabi,uae
Posted: March 13, 2008, 11:40

Your self congratulation for having "high ethics" and journalistic integrity is laughable. Gulf News is a rubbish publication without any spine. If you want the truth, you won't find it in the Gulf News.
Gob
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: March 13, 2008, 10:55

It's nice to see that while other newspapers probably didn't bother checking for the source, you guys actually waited and held back. Shows that at least someone follows the ethics and principles of Journalism in the Gulf.Keep up the good work. It's no wonder you guys are number 1!
Salman
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: March 13, 2008, 10:37

"Ethics"... yes, this is the word... and the reason I have been reading GN since I was introduced to it by my hubby when I arrived 18 years ago on 24-April-1989.Very few people or company follows the rules of "Ethics". Keep it up.
Aisha
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 13, 2008, 09:32

Try CNN, they published this also.
Firozali
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 13, 2008, 06:10

The Photograph was terrific. I wonder how it came to the press when it is heard that all such incidents in the gulf countries are covered in the news papers with strict censoring.
P. M. Thomas
Bhopal,India
Posted: March 13, 2008, 06:04

While it's commendable that Gulf News took pains to identify the source of the photograph, I think it should have dug deeper into the claim of the Associated Press (AP) regarding "ownership" of it.If you would allow me to speculate, there are two possibilities regarding the credit of the photograph to AP: (1) An AP photographer took the picture (though he or she was not credited for it); or (2) AP simply secured copyright to the picture.I don't want to think that AP just downloaded it from the Internet and decided, on the premise of "public domain," that it can "own" (and consequently profit) from the picture.The article states: "Finally, when it looked hopeless, at 5.55pm the international news agency Associated Press (AP) filed the photograph with their credit but without a photographer's name."It may have been better for Gulf News to inquire with AP regarding the source of the photograph. Despite the Gulf News' acknowledgment of ambiguity in AP's sourcing, I think there should have been some effort to ask AP why this is so.There's nothing wrong with approaching colleagues to establish provenance of data, and I'm sure AP can also appreciate the fact that there are publications like Gulf News that take data gathering seriously.I wish Gulf News all the best!
Danilo
Quezon City,Philippines
Posted: March 13, 2008, 03:42

I'm surprised that all you guys care about is who is the photographer while there are people dead and injured. This is a terrible trajedy and it seems that you don't care about the dead or the injured or the news itself. You should be concentrating on how to educate people how to take care and drive during this kind of weather.
Amine
New York,USA
Posted: March 13, 2008, 03:05

I salute you for aknowledging the skill of the photographer of this magnetic picture of the horror.
zeehan
dubai,uae
Posted: March 13, 2008, 02:29