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Press
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The Associated
Press and the Navy SEALs photos
On Dec. 3, 2004, the Associated Press ran photos from a Web
site that showed the treatment of captured prisoners in Iraq
by U.S. servicemen who appear to be Navy SEALs. Some of the
photos are disturbing. Here, in question-and-answer format,
is an explanation of why AP considers the photos newsworthy
and believes that the public should know about them.
Question: Where were the photos found?
Answer: The prisoner photos – along with hundreds of
other images of Navy SEALs in Iraq – were found on a
commercial photo-sharing Web site, smugmug.com, through a
simple Google search. The Web site was not password protected
and could be readily accessed by anyone. An AP reporter found
them while doing research on another story involving Navy
SEALs.
Q: Who took the photos and who put
them on the Internet?
A: It is not clear yet who took the pictures. They were posted
to the Web by the wife of a Navy SEAL, who told the AP reporter
her husband brought them back from Iraq. AP has not named
the wife. The photos have a date stamp of May 2003.
Q: Are they private photos?
A: The photos do not show private or family matters, but the
treatment of captured prisoners in the custody of U.S. military.
Military regulations prohibit taking or using such kind of
pictures for personal use, and it was improper for them to
be turned over to a civilian. In addition, the photos were
posted on the Internet where anyone could see them.
Q: What did AP do after finding the
pictures?
A: AP first contacted the Navy SEAL’s wife who posted
the pictures. Next, AP alerted the Navy and showed some of
the photos to officials at SEALs headquarters. The Navy, in
turn, immediately began an investigation of the conduct in
the photos, how they were taken and how they came to be posted
on a Web site by a civilian. At no point did the Navy request
that the AP not use the photos or conceal the identities of
the servicemen in the image.
Q: Who determined that the photos and
story should be published?
A: AP transmitted 15 of the photos to its 1,700 member newspapers
and radio and television stations. Ultimately, hundreds of
editors and news directors were involved in the decision to
publish the photos and the story. These included the editors
at the Associated Press as well as the editors at the papers
and news directors at television stations who reviewed the
photos and concluded the public should know of their existence.
Q: Why didn’t AP conceal the
faces of the servicemen?
A: AP ran the photos exactly as they appeared on the Internet.
Some of the faces of the prisoners, but not all, had already
been obscured on those photos. In some of the photos, the
expressions of the servicemen are a key part of the story.
For the sake of accuracy and integrity, AP has as policy of
not altering any photos. To do so denies the public right
to know and distorts the historical record. In addition, the
U.S. Defense Department, in the Abu Ghraib case, has argued
that it is individual soldiers – not Pentagon policymakers
– who are responsible for the treatment of captives.
That the servicemen allowed the pictures to be made available
to the public on the Internet suggests they did not consider
the potential danger of being exposed.
Q: Why is the story considered newsworthy?
A: The fact these photos were taken at all, and then posted
on the Internet where they could be seen by anyone, makes
them newsworthy. In the original story, the AP reporter stressed
that the conduct in the pictures might not be illegal. But
even if no grounds for charges of abuse are found in the Navy
investigation, there are rules against keeping such photos
or making them available for public use. In addition, some
of the photos have date stamps on them that suggest they were
taken before the photos discovered of prison abuse at Abu
Graib prison. In addition, some Navy SEALs were already under
investigation for abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
Story:
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