The New York Times (NYT), an American daily, published an unusual front page photo of a Ukrainian family who lost their lives in a Russian attack on the 7th (local time).
On the same day, the New York Times published on the front page of the page a 5-panel size photo of a government military soldier examining a family who had fallen bloody on the streets of Irfin, a small town near Kiiu (Kyiv), Ukraine.
According to the New York Times, these are local residents who were struck by fragments of a Russian mortar shell while evacuating outside Irph the day before.
The mother, son and daughter died on the spot, and it is known that an acquaintance traveling with them suffered serious injuries and died shortly thereafter.
As major world media outlets have generally refrained from posting photos of the dead, such as the bodies of the dead, it is considered a very unusual decision for the NYT to publish an article featuring the victims on the front page.
Until the day before, the NYT reported the incident through Twitter and inserted a warning that "may contain naked photos", but it seems to have changed the reporting stance after internal discussions.
In the same article published in the online edition of the New York Times, a freelance reporter recorded a video of a sudden explosion in the middle of a street with civilians and government soldiers running toward fallen citizens.
It seems that this kind of brutal delivery of scenes reflects criticism that the existing policy of avoiding such reports is preventing Ukrainians from properly communicating the reality they are facing.
NYT reporter Lindsay Adario, who took the photo, told MSNBC, "This is a case in which I witnessed civilians being directly targeted." It makes sense,” he said.
New York Times deputy editor, Cliff Levy, wrote on Twitter that the front page of the photo was one of the most important front page reports ever made about the war.
The Associated Press reported that this decision by the New York Times has implications for the media as they struggle between conveying the grim reality of war and controlling the water level.
Other Western media are also showing signs of a shift in a similar direction.
The US CNN broadcast the same video the night before, and the AP is also sending out with a warning that pictures related to the Ukraine war may be high-level.
AP Photography Director David Eyke said the policy is not to post photos that depict unnecessary violence, but he does mark potentially sensitive photos so that customers can decide whether to use them or not.
(Photo=AP, Yonhap News)