It seemed exploitative to us, so we didn’t publish the photo of the father and daughter from El Salvador who had drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande on their way to the southern U.S. border in June of 2019. That didn’t stop just about every other media outlet out there plastering it on their front pages and prime-time newscasts. Andy Ngo asked CNN why their policy on not publishing graphic photos of the dead seemed so porous.
We in no way wish to diminish the drowning of a 9-year-old girl who drowned on March 20 after trying to cross the Rio Grande with her family; it’s tragic. Axios reports that “U.S. Border Patrol agents found a mother and two children unconscious on an island in the river” and “administered first aid while transporting the family to shore.” The mother and 3-year-old boy survived.
A 9-year-old migrant girl drowned as her family attempted to cross the Rio Grande into Texas on March 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced. https://t.co/NEfkwG5UBc
— Axios (@axios) March 27, 2021
If a journalist had been there and snapped a photo of the body, would we be seeing it on every front page and website?
Remember when? pic.twitter.com/SA7MaIsuns
— David In Maryland (@DavidInMaryland) March 27, 2021
Yep — Vox’s Zach Beauchamp wrote that “this is the photo that encapsulates the cruelty of the Trump era …. I don’t like having to look at it, but it’s important: It is the true face of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration, the physical embodiment of the nativism that animates it.”
CNN called the photo “a moral stain on Trump’s America.”
The tragic father-daughter photo is a moral stain on Trump's America | By @FridaGhitis for @CNNOpinion https://t.co/bqRmPfZqrW pic.twitter.com/DN0UQTkJCt
— CNN (@CNN) June 27, 2019
“Trump’s border policies are destroying lives, as the haunting photo shows, but they are also causing grievous harm to America. Even after he leaves office, it will take decades to repair the country’s devastated image,” wrote CNN’s Frida Ghitis.
So, just assuming a journalist had captured a photo …
I’m not saying this tragic death is on President Biden’s hands, but I’m saying if this were last year, the media would be saying that it’s on President Trump’s hands: https://t.co/KhQCkBT6HH
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) March 27, 2021
In other words, do you think we’ll get coverage like this today?https://t.co/KhQCkBT6HH pic.twitter.com/W3Z5D2DyNl
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) March 27, 2021
We all know the answer.
— Laura Gadbery (@lgadbery) March 27, 2021
Literally nothing about the #bordercrisis on @cnn homepage right night. What a bunch of fucking frauds.
— 2MadLibs (@2_libs) March 27, 2021
Yeah, we checked CNN. The big photo is of Vice President Kamala Harris, and the top story is how “after two months, the vice president and her husband are still unable to move into their private residence. And she’s getting frustrated.”
So, no hot takes about how this drowning shows the cruelty of the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policies?
Related:
Andy Ngo questions CNN's standards over photo of drowned father and daughter from El Salvador https://t.co/h0ms5nrRHm
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 26, 2019
Join the conversation as a VIP Member