World Press Photo of the Year crosses 'moral boundaries,' says prize juror
WARNING: This article contains graphic images
Associated Press photographer Burhan Ozbilici has been awarded the World Press Photo of the Year. But not everyone thinks he should have been given the honour.
The winning image is of an off-duty police officer who assassinated the Russian ambassador to Turkey. The shooting took place at an art gallery in Ankara in December.
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Ozbilici also won first place in the category called Spot News Stories for his series "An Assassination in Turkey."
Stuart Franklin is the chair of the general jury for the World Press Photo awards. He's also a photographer — perhaps best known for the photographs he took during the Tiananmen Square protests.
While Franklin was in favour of giving Ozbilici the award for spot news, he voted against his image for photo of the year. Here's part of what he told As it Happens guest host Helen Mann about his objections:
HELEN MANN: Why don't you think this image should have been awarded World Press Photo of the Year?
STUART FRANKLIN: I just don't think it's an appropriate flagship image for that particular contest. Or, in general, for the year's press photography. It raises too many concerns and it's quite a controversial picture. I think that's the bottom line. It's not an easy picture. It's controversial. It has a lot of issues attached to it, in my view.
HM: What are some of those issues? What are the big concerns?
It could be argued that it's kind of advancing the aims of the perpetrator.- World Press Photo juror Stuart Franklin
SF: Well, I guess they're mainly moral concerns. One is that it could be argued that it's kind of advancing the aims of the perpetrator. That is to say, you know, he has brought the press — or the press has come to a press conference — where the Russian ambassador has been murdered and the press dutifully recorded it. And that's totally fine. And it's totally fine that the image was published on the front page of The New York Times and all the rest of it — I totally understand that. The thing is that you have to sort of then go, "OK. That's fine. That was the news. That's the story." But then, when you raise it further up on a pedestal, as this kind of flagship image which you celebrate as picture of the year, it then carries other issues such as would have it been awarded the prize if the gentleman lying on the floor had been the Canadian ambassador or the American ambassador . . . I just think that it crosses, for me, too many moral boundaries. Therefore, I would have preferred to have another kind of image, frankly.
HM: We did hear in our interview with Ozbilici that, you know, he felt it was responsibility as his journalist to take the photos — even if it meant putting his life in danger. Isn't awarding this prize also about acknowledging his bravery in a field where many people die doing this job?
SF: That's a very good question. But, let's not forget, World Press Photo isn't an award for bravery. It's an award for photography and also for creativity within news photography. We had to take all kinds of considerations . . . You know, there's a lot of bravery involved in the reporting that people do to do with domestic violence — all kinds of things. There are different kinds of bravery that come into breaking the silence and telling new stories. Certainly, this man acted hugely bravely in producing the pictures he did. But that, in an of itself, isn't the reason to give it the top prize. We have to look at the photography. We have to look at the broader context. We have to look at the message it sends out.
This interview with Stuart Franklin has been edited for length and clarity. To hear more from the photographer, listen to our full interview above.