TODAY’S front page was the most difficult to publish in the short history of The National.
The photograph of three-year-old Syrian-Kurd Alan Kurdi, who drowned in a desperate bid to find a safe haven from violence and destruction, is almost unbearably distressing. Publishing it on our front page will upset our readers, and is designed to do so.
The photograph, and others just as distressing, became available on the day that a poll showed a majority of Scots would now vote for Scottish independence if a referendum were held, a story which would in most circumstances feature on our front page.
Why then reject an option which would have delighted our readers and instead put in front of them a disturbing and terrible image which many will find unpalatable?
Because while The National’s masthead proudly declares us to be a newspaper that supports an independent Scotland we do not and cannot do so above all else.
While we welcome the results of the poll on independence and believe that the next referendum, if it is held at the right time, will deliver a resounding Yes vote, the exodus of hundreds of thousands of people from Syria, from Afghanistan and from war-torn areas of Africa represents an immediate and profound challenge to the world today.
It is a challenge that the world is failing to address. Europe has so far failed to agree on a common approach to the thousands risking their lives to reach its shores. Britain’s response has been shameful, agreeing only to accept a paltry number of refugees while erecting fences to keep the rest out. Meanwhile the death toll mounts.
Much of the debate around this crisis has sought to portray those escaping countries being torn apart as something to be feared; a “swarm” who will take jobs from our children and benefits from those in need.
The photograph we publish on today’s front page should make it impossible to view those refugees as anything other than human beings trying to escape the desperate situations in which they find themselves, through no fault of their own. This is not a “swarm”; these are not just numbers. These are real people, with hopes and dreams ... and children.
Photographs can be intrusive, exploitative and sensationalist. They can also tell truths. And truths, no matter how difficult and upsetting, can change the world.
Photojournalism has altered public opinion in important ways at key moments in recent history. A photograph of children running from a napalm attack during the Vietnam war was one of a number which helped turn opinion in America against the conflict.
Photographs which showed the horrors of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima and of war in Iraq were not published for fear of upsetting public sensibilities and such self-censorship meant the true face of such terrible events was hidden.
Today we have disturbed and upset our readers and we have risked undermining the dignity of a dead child. We have done so in the hope this photograph will be one which changes public opinion, which articulates more than mere words the case for a humane response to the crisis which has gripped the modern world, which states simply: common humanity demands that we finally offer the help needed to save thousands of lives.
'These are human beings in a situation of great adversity': Sturgeon calls for Scotland to 'play its full part' in refugee crisis
Ian Preston: Immigration isn’t a drain on the economy ... it’s more likely to be a boost
Lesley Riddoch: Image of despair demands our action
Letters to the National, September 3 2015: Trident? Spend it on refugees instead
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