Just wondering if it's right to give an award for a photo that captures a young girl's last moments?

article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4231020.stm)

Well two questions really - are we happy to let photographers take pictures like this on our behalf, and is it distasteful to give an award for it?

Yes it is very distasteful - this girl will have a family and this could hurt them too much to bear.

And no, this is bloodsucking of the worst degree under these circumstances.

I don't know.I read the article and I understand where he is coming from and why he felt he had to publish it.
But the fact remains that she was a little girl, who died tragically, when it could have been averted.It sounds like nobody wanted to know a story about the everyday conditions in that village, and how they needed a water pump and supplies.
But a tragic little girl with big sad eyes and everyone wants to know.
Maybe it's more a comment on society and what we react to rather than on wha'ts right or wrong.If he had published a picture of a child that survived..would the impact have been the same.I think not.
I honestly don't know if he did the right thing, but it is done now.
It was a long time ago, does'nt sound like conditions have improved much in Bogota...so it could be argued he achieved nothing.But he had to try.
If it was my little girl, I would not like her to be remembered as THAT girl who died tragically while the world gazed helplessly.She was flesh and blood and somebody's beloved child. :-(
I can't answer this.
(It reminds me of a film I saw once called 'Ace in the Hole' ..about a journalist who happened upon a kid trapped in a well or something, and he was'nt so eager for the kid to be rescued because the story sold tons of papers and earned him lots of money)
What do others think?

I don't like it. I find it very distasteful indeed. I'm sure there were lots more photos more deserving of the award.