We had a similar crime happen right here in Chicago abot 10-12 years ago. A white businessman walking to work each day after getting off the train in Chicago. He told several friends that a black bicycle delivery man was harrassing him by riding by him in the morning and yelling racial slurs. A few days later the business man was pushed onto the tracks by the black man. He left behind a young son 6 years old and his wife. I was so disturbed by the crime I had called Mayor Daleys office and demanded that it be treated as a hate crime.

I'm so disgusted of Chicago politics. The worst in the nation. All of them are crooks and even the crooks (child molesting felons) are running for office and have a good chance of winning. How about the long drawn out case involving Daily's cousin? Disgrace.

Rupert Murdoch is an insensitive creep with the lowest standards of human decency in journalism.

Pictures of war, famine, terror, torture are all unpleasant, all distasteful, but that is not the responsibility of the reporter or the news photographer. Their responsibility is to document the actuality. Once he determined that he could not save the man, what he did, was his job.

It is a photo of a real event that represents a real problem. Maybe we need photos like this to give us the sense of outrage that we should have about an event like this. Better this, than sweep it under the rug with a vague description of what happened (that would barely made it out of the local paper), in the name of "good taste". Let's not use the excuse of "good taste" to insulate us from what is really happening out there.

Well I don't actually think that the photographer actually determined "He could not help the man" he never even tried. Who gave him the job of photographing tragedy and horror? Who gave him this responsibility.??
God and humanity gave him the job to try and help his fellow man with everything he has and with all he could..As far as I am concerned I think he faile dhis job and should be fired from ever being paid for these pictures or getting any attention for them.

The public schools are at the root of our decay in society. They teach children and the parents to never ever address a problem directly..Oh no they demand that "ALL" issues and problems be brought to them so they can do nothing about it. People just don't realize the negative effect on society that these so called experts have. Children today can't even talk to an adult. Why? because thse public school staff want to make an excuse for their existence.

So I guess PATCH thinks it's OK to repost the picture. What's the point of a poll?

Members of the media are trained and conditioned not to become part of the stories they are covering editorially or with video/photo images. This should not, however, be confused with the moral (and in some instances) legal responsibility to do everything in their power to intercede on behalf of their fellow human beings.

Tragedies happen every day every where on this planet...and have happened every day since the beginning of time. Some horrors happen to be caught on film...most are not. There is only one person who understands the whole truth behind the decision in that flash of a moment the photographer lived...and that is the photographer. I would not judge him harshly. Who knows what you would do? A friends father jumped into a river once to save a drowning man. He died. The drowning man lived. The father who died left behind five children, two parents, four siblings. The drowning man had no family and died 3 months later of stage four cancer. Some people called him a hero. I think he made a bad decision. Cynthia...would you have risked your life at that moment? One never knows until faced with that terrible decision ...does one?

Yes.

Cathy O,
You couldn't be more mistaken... News, is most often not pretty, not considered 'good taste'. The man was there doing his job. He was too far away to help in any other way but to report the image. The 'if it were his child' argument is specious. News is who, what. when. where and why and as they say; it's a tough job but somebody has to do it. I know, because I did it for nearly half a century and let me tell you, everyone of us carries those scars.

I am disgusted that people think the actions of the photographer and newspaper are okay. As I have responded to other posts with this comment, I will say it again. No one, and I mean no one, wants their child, mother, father, sister, brother, etc, shown on the front page of a newspaper as they are about to die. Think about it this way - If that was your son or daughter, how would you feel about a photographer taking pictures and not even attempting to help as your child lay on the tracks? I doubt you would say that his actions would be okay. The problem here is that people fail to put themselves in other people's shoes. If it doesn't affect them personally, then they don't worry about it. People are WAY too selfish. And shame on the other people at the scene that didn't attempt to rescue the man.

Kathy O, I agree with you completely..I think taking a picture of someone getting ready to die is outrageous, cruel and inhumane. Yes, i know I would have tried to save this mans life. I would have ran towards him screaming..Help that man on the tracks grab him..Help him help him..
As for the story of the tragic accident of the young man dying while saving a life. How do you know that God did not present this test for this young man before taking him to heaven? Yes its tragic but he is a Hero. He did the one thing that God asks of us. "Love thy neighor as you love yourself" . News is not news when it is vulgar, insensitive and obscene. Above all else we have a moral and ethical obligation to life.
I have been blessed to have saved the life of one child and many many animals and yes I have risked my own life..Nothing has been more rewarding...Absolutly nothing comes close to saving a life.
Is there anything on this earth more important that this..

What I think is a tragic part of this World are those who think they are here to "observe" life. To stand back and wait for someone else to take action or do something..Personally I find this sad and pathetic..APATHY is at the root of moral and elthical decy. We all need to get in there and do our best to make this World a better place than if we were not here at all. Thats is our obligation..That is our responsibility.

YES!!!!! Thank you Cynthia!

Kathy O,
Sorry about the misspelling. Yes, I do know he was there on assignment. You'd know that too had you listened as the story unfolded prior to having made up your mind. And by the way, it's taken, not took.

Doctors don't treat friends and family and in general, news people aren't sent to cover stories involving same. It is always someone's child, brother, mate or friend and that fact is not forgotten. Now, The facts regarding the photographer's presence were given in all media response coverage, not just one isolated story. How can you be sure why he was there if you admittedly, don't know? You saw a man getting ready to die, he saw a terrible situation and did what he could to cover the event.
My former response was not at all rude - don't worry about the next, there won't be one. As you said; you're upset.

I see nothing wrong with the cover. I would have bought the paper

You are very heartless, Cliff Hanger. And just because I am upset and not checking my grammar doesn't mean I can't have a discussion. I wasn't speaking to you, anyway. And for the record, the story I read didn't have the reason the photographer was on the scene. You can't tell me that every story had that fact in it. Have you read them all? I don't care if he was a reporter or not. You don't photograph someone getting ready to die. And it does matter if it was your son, daughter, etc.....your opinion would change....and you can't tell me it wouldn't.

"All for the sake of journalism" - PUKE! Where is the humanity?!?!? Some of you see this differently than I do, and I don't see how. I'm not going to argue anymore. This is a huge waste of my time. I hope nothing ever happens to your family members like that. Of course, it shouldn't just be your family members you care about. It should be people in general. But, somehow, that point gets lost when a good story is involved. Disgusting!

The truly disgusting part is that the world already knows the length Fox News outlets will go to get their hands on images like this. Wonder how much they paid for the images? These are the creeps who violated the cell phone and voice mail privacy of a dead little girl.

A photographer was sent on assignment to cover another possible story at a subway stop. While there he witnessed a man shoved on to the tracks in front of an approaching train. Realizing he was too far away to effect a rescue, he signaled the train with his strobe flash attachment. Failing to stop the train, he documented the (albeit, nightmarish) situation and then returned to his paper. The picture was not sold, it was licenced. How did this ever become about Fox?
Enough.

The cover photo is bad taste, but this is what our society desires. I admittedly looked for the photo right away. I think we should worry more about the guy who murdered this man when he pushed him more than the bystander that did not save his life.

Hard new reporters as you pretend mr anger don't get hung up on spelling. Info and story skills are number 1. Only a low self-esteem newsy poseur would criticize another author's spelling in a Patch Forum when the intent and thought behind their message is clear. If you knew anything about news reporting, you'd never mention Kathy's spelling and grammar here. That's the signature of bullies and blowhards.

No, Mr. hall... people who call other people names are those who qualify for that title... By the way, did you mean hard, new reporters or hard news reporters? And by the way, I never claimed to be a reporter, but I'll remove my Peabody from my desk right away just because you sure taught me a lesson...

Oops... meant, Mr. (in caps) Hall

Well said, John!

bonne nuit en colère, enfant pétulant

Gone a little astray with the comments, I see....
Vilifying the poor photog because he happened to be in the wrong place at the right time is poor form. I figure he had a "New York Minute" or between 6 and 8 seconds from the time anyone realized what had happened till impact. Only 6 or 8 people closest could have done anything to help (think crowded subway platform) and you can get an awful lot of flashes off in just a couple of seconds, but you can't move 25 feet through a crowd in that time unless you knock other people over and, I don't know, onto the tracks also. The photographer reacted as he would have observing life anywhere. The editor chose the pic to publish....that's another matter.
That we all gawk at the results and get so judgemental in the aftermath is, I guess, just human nature also. Pretty sad, all the way around.

J.Lyn,
You completely missed my point...I gues it was too much for you.
Many people have stated that the photographer was "Too Far" away from the man to help him. My point was I would have been running towards him screaming help him so that maybe just maybe someone close to him would have been unlocked from being frozen in place to have tried to lift this man out of the the tracks. If I were lucky enough to get to him in time I gaurentee I would have tried to get him out.
How sad for you that you have no faith, no expectation of humanity and clearly no character..By all means stay in your small world shopping at Big lots or Kmart. But for the rest of us who have a wolrd vision on life and humanity because we have travelled the world, are educated and think about subjects other than our next meal at the burger king we have higher expectations of mankind.

22 seconds can be a long time. If the photographer had started running towards the man on the tracks and pointing at him, yelling, it may have prompted others to spring into action, and grab the man. We will never know what could have been. Hindsight is 20/20.

I have to believe that the photographer knew exactly what he was doing, which was to please his editors with the kind of picture which fits with the publishers front page standards. He should have been chasing the story, the identity of the perpetrator, AND prompting others to help. The rag rewards him by running the picture. I doubt there's much hindsight within the Fox News empire, just cover-ups of deplorable ethics and activities ranging from bribery to invasion of privacy.

I have found on many occasions that people are "Frozen" in place when they see other people who need help. I was taught from a very early age to take action immediatly and to think on my feet. I encourage everyone who might find themselves in a position of split second thinking to yell out to the crowd what actions to take. Scream out what actions you are taking and what actions the rest of the crowd can take. So often peole are frozen because they don't know what to do..Think mobilize.

Try your best..take charge and take action. You never know what tomorrow brings.