Editorial: Photojournalism Brings Tough Decisions, Tears

Oct. 23--Aimee Dilger didn't sleep Wednesday night.

Aimee is our photojournalist who took the picture of the little boy involved in an automobile accident on the Sans Souci Highway. He was shown being carried away from the accident by a firefighter -- still in his car seat.

Aimee tells me she didn't see the little boy in the car seat. Instead, she saw her own sons, 6 and 8 years old, in that seat. When her boys looked at the picture in the paper the next morning and asked what happened, their father answered, "This is why we put you guys in car seats."

The car seat is likely what saved that little boy's life.

Aimee, who received a hate message on her personal Facebook page from someone she doesn't know, wants people to look at that picture and see their own children. She wants them to see their kids in car seats. Again, the little boy is most likely alive today because he was in a car seat.

"Why don't people get as upset about kids not being in car seats?" Aimee asked Thursday morning, still upset about the accident. "Why aren't people upset about little kids not in car seats with their mothers or fathers texting while driving? That's what they should be upset about."

Aimee did her job. She was dispatched to the scene of an accident and photographed what was happening.

She agonized about the picture of the little boy. All the way back to the newsroom, she questioned whether or not she did the right thing. She's been a photojournalist for years -- assignments like this don't get easier with time. She admits there are many times she would like to just look away.

Aimee cried on the way back. She shed a tear or two earlier in the day, too, when photographing a young woman who had been burned in a fire as a child -- but that's another story.

Aimee sent the picture to our photo editor, Clark Van Orden, and told him to make the decision about whether or not it should run in the paper because she could not.

Clark said, "You did your job." The picture ran on the front page of our Thursday paper. Clark's been making decisions like that for a long time and that's not easy for him, either.

I fielded a phone call from the little boy's cousin Thursday morning who started the conversation by insisting we remove the photo from our website.

I stopped her and asked how the little boy -- and everyone else involved in the accident -- was doing. Because I care. I have kids, too -- both too old and too big to sit in car seats now but you can bet your bottom dollar they sat in those things when they were young.

Because car seats have proven to save lives.

Once the cousin assured me everyone in the accident was going to be fine, I listened to her -- and I understood. It's upsetting to the family to see a photo like that. I get it.

Instead of being upset about the photo, though, the family can thank their lucky stars and pat themselves on the back for having the good sense to put their kid in a car seat in the first place. The little boy doesn't have to see the picture in the paper anytime soon.

If, and when, he does, Mom and Dad can use the photo as a tool to impress upon him the importance of sitting in a car seat -- even if he argues he's a big boy and doesn't need a car seat.

Making decisions to run photos like that is not easy. Even to those of us who have been making those decisions for decades. We don't want to see kids -- or anyone, for that matter -- involved in accidents. We don't want to see anyone hurt.

We are human beings first. Journalists second.

All we ask is that you respect us for doing our jobs.

Dotty Martin is the managing editor of the Times Leader. She may be reached at 570-704-3982.

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