I have just been re-reading Edward Behr’s memoir of life in journalism. Its account of the war in Algeria has this numbing tale of journalistic behaviour, which must rank as one of the gravest professional outrages ever committed:
…for sheer callousness, it was difficult to beat the French freelance photographer, with excellent OAS connections, who actually set up the killing of a veiled Algerian woman, accompanying an OAS killer team, choosing the victim, shooting the actual act of gunning down and the woman’s death throes on the pavement.
The case came to light only because, after a few too many drinks in the Aletti bar, the photographer boasted of what he had done. An ad hoc committee of French reporters met to discuss what action should be taken. They decided to report him to the French authorities — but no sanctions were imposed, and the photographer continued to operate with impunity…
Discuss.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
um, post his name and post it now. If there will be no sanction imposed on him, let his peers and the public know who he is.
Hmmm… What sounds more likely… That someone would do something like this, or yet another writer would, shall we say, take some liberties with “the bigger truth” as they like to call it?
Writers enjoy portraying photographers like this. It’s a bit too much to believe.
@Anon – He’s probably long dead.
@Dave – Behr died a few years ago. If you want to judge him, read his book and put it in to context, i.e. French complicity and sympathy for the OAS campaign.
Doctors don’t come out too well, either.
But, yes, I know photographers always get a bad wrap, which is why I called it a journalistic outrage.
According to Whackypedia, Behrs book on Algeria was:
“said to be compulsory reading at the State Department.”
Not anymore!
Maybe Condi Rice prefers Tom Clancy?