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group discussion on Demotix from lightstalkers

"Illegal exhumation - A debate about Marco Vernaschi´s methods "

International Network of Photojournalists, writers, editors etc

"dvafoto - photojournalism - M. Scott Brauer and Matt Lutton Matt Lutton and M. Scott Brauer share their work and others' Ethical Transgressions in Marco Vernaschi's Coverage for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Apr 23, 2010 by M. Scott Brauer 3 Comments » What started as a long accusation in a lightstalkers thread has turned into a large-scale discussion involving a Pulitzer Center apology and coverage on the Guardian website. Marco Vernaschi's coverage of child sacrifice in Uganda (another with the offending image removed and another) for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting initially looked like a hard and gritty glance into a little-known-outside-of-Africa problem of ritual child sacrifice. Issues of exoticism and the colonialist view notwithstanding, numerous bloggers began lobbing serious allegations of paying for access, illegally exhuming a child's body to take pictures of the corpse, child exploitation, and outright fabrication. A Developing Story raised some strong questions of both Vernaschi and the Pulitzer Center. The Pulitzer Center took time in responding to the allegations. Other bloggers led the charge, with Anne Holmes of Vigilante Journalist providing invaluable investigation into the case with Ugandan authorities. Holmes had previously interviewed Vernaschi for her blog and has retracted those articles due to concerns about Vernaschi's ethics and journalistic process. The Pulitzer Center has issued a statement responding to these allegations, in which it agrees that the bounds of journalism, ethics, and human decency were crossed. Asim Rafiqui has a great perspective on the issue, as does Tewfic El-Sawey. Pay special attention Rafiqui's analysis of the motivations for a photographer to manufacture a story as regards the media eco-system of photojournalism awards, publications looking for sensationalism, and historical portrayals of Africa. "Mr. Vernaschi's transgression is not just that of an individual, but of an indust

Lisa's amazing story about the truth of what is happening in the Northern Territory of Australia: In her own words: "It is almost as difficult to get any information about the truth of what is happening in the Northern Territory of Australia as it is to get an idea of what is happening in Tibet, except here they are not using guns anymore- Well at least it has been 50 years since you could buy a gun license to kill an Aborigine- truly… I am sure you will go what is the fuss about when you see this work. To me they reflect the vibrancy of the people but also their isolation. The conditions are harsh but the Warlpiri people have a beauty and strength that is of the environment. Which they don't want to lose. These photos also include a self portrait in the landscape and I am not allowed to use that either. I am at a complete loss to know why but I guess its because its uncovering a part of the country of Australia that is very resource rich and heaven forbid beautiful."