The “disembedded” photographer Zoriah Miller got a great raise in his reputation courtesy of the New York Times. But is he a martyr?
“Zoriah Miller, the photographer who took images of marines killed in a June 26 suicide attack and posted them on his Web site, was subsequently forbidden to work in Marine Corps-controlled areas of the country. Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the Marine commander in Iraq, is now seeking to have Mr. Miller barred from all United States military facilities throughout the world. Mr. Miller has since left Iraq.” NYT 07/26/06
Well take that Zoriah!
This is going to up the blood pressure of every card carrying photojournalist around the world, except me, a former military and civilian photographer. This guy is no Robert Capa. The world is full of testosterone/Adrenalin charged shooters. While i am sure Zoriah is a nice guy, take a look at his bio http://www.zoriah.com/curriculavitae.html . While it’s worth noting here, the pentagon has imposed a high degree of control over media coverage of embedded journalists. That is not the issue with Zoriah. He broke the agreement with the Marines on a level that constitutes betrayal and insult to them, and for what, a set of gruesome images. Unfortunately that is all that they are. If he was willing to draw the line, it should have been for something more meaningful. There was no greater good being served by posting the images on his website.
A young military photojournalist who took my place at my last duty station in the Navy called me one day to tell me about the horrible treatment he was receiving from his squadron. He had photographed a mid-air collision of two jets. He used it in his submission to the Military Photojournalist of the Year competition and the image was selected for an award. He just could not understand how the squadron could be upset about his winning the MPOY honor. Did he ask permission to enter a sensitive event into his portfolio? No. Why did it not occur to him to run this by the boss? It was too great an image not to enter,is what he said. Was it worth the risk? I doubt so. It was removed from the competition and the kid was shipped off to rot until his enlistment was done. These folks take these things seriously. Trust is the glue that binds in our military.
What Zoriah hasn’t “gotten” is that it was the marines trust that kept him with them. He violated that trust, in their eyes in a most obscene way. The issue of censure is irrelevant.
It’s very intoxicating to find yourself in the middle of an event as the only outside witness. Editors condition young photographers by encouraging them to bring something “exciting” back, no matter what the cost. The journalistic end is not being served when there is no context. The letter below is taken from the Magnum history and illustrates this well. It was written in 1962.
“I wish to remind everyone that Magnum was created to allow us, and in fact to oblige us, to bring testimony on our world and contemporaries according to our own abilities and interpretations. I won’t go into details here of who, what, when, why and where, but I feel a hard touch of sclerosis descending upon us. It might be from the conditioning of the milieu in which we live but this is no excuse. When events of significance are taking place, when it doesn’t involve a great deal of money and when one is nearby, one must stay photographically in contact with the realities taking place in front of our lenses and not hesitate to sacrifice material comfort and security. This return to our sources would keep our heads and our lenses above the artificial life, which so often surrounds us. I am shocked to see to what extent so many of us are conditioned – almost exclusively by the desires of the clients…” Henri Cartier-Bresson–
So now what? Will Zoriah “get” what he did and move on or will be lionized for the harsh treatment heaped on this member of the media? He’s a pretty good photographer, but he’s got some work to do if he wants to be a great photojournalist.
Update 021610
Hard Times Going Down the Road 
Marines love their dead. Sometimes I think Marines love their dead brothers even more than those living. I say this because I can remember one sergeant major screaming and berating a crew of snuffies filling sandbags in Beirut. Two of the Marines–my guys–later died in the BLT 1/8 bombing along with many others of my brotherhood. That same sergeant major today laments the loss of his brothers. Thus, the love and protection Marines give their dead is absolute and without limit. Zoriah Miller should have realized this thing about Marines when he so brazenly insulted them by snapping grotesque pictures of their dead brothers. There is a right way and a wrong way to photograph tragedy. To cite Henri Cartier Bresson once more, we photojournalists as well as any other reporter–writer or broadcaster–must do it through the “compassionate lense.” Many cop a plea to “objective journalism.” I say it never existed. Thus we who call ourselves journalists, whether via camera or pen and paper, owe it to our audience to show the compassion of reasonable human beings, and as Paul says–“get it.” Had Miller shared the grief with those Marines, seen the tragic loss of their brothers through their eyes, his photographs might have been taken with a compassionate angle, and enough care to communicate the utter sadness of the moment. Such a picture would enable the audience to share the grief of loss with the Marines, not objectify their dead as something sensational–somehow sexy. Yes, it is all about trust, and walking a mile in the other guy’s shoes too. To be an Ernie Pyle or Robert Capa one must also have a heart, and as the soldiers on Okinawa said of Pyle, be a buddy. I offer my good friend, a great photojournalist as well as writer, Joe Galloway, as one excellent example that any of todays combat correspondents could emulate. So great was the soldiers’ trust in Joe that today warriors throughout today’s military embrace him as what correspondents ought to be. I say, be more like Joe Galloway, trust and be trusted, and you will go far. That is the “get it” I think Paul is after.
I have just seen Zoriah Miller present his work and several of his pieces show Marines grieving over the loss of their dead. His entire series of the Iraq/Afghani wars show dead and wounded civillians along with the people left to grieve for them. Intermingled in the same presentation, he showed pictures (including the single shot that has been controversial) of dead and wounded Marines along with other Marines grieving for them. I believe this is to highlight the fact that extreme destruction and violence affects soldiers and civillians in the same way. There is no distinction of emotion between the loss of soldier’s lives and civilian lives.
Zoriah is a total tool. but so are you.
You have a total lack of understanding of what is freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right and obligation to inform .
You want to see a war in a comfortable way, where you don’t have to see anything that bothers you. It’s fine to take pictures of dead “enemies” or civilians, just not your compatriots.
Those grunts giving a hard time to your friends were just as retarded as you are for justifying them. permission to publish a mid air collision? are you for real?
If only 10% of reality was reported to the American people, they would have revolted about American invasions a long time ago, much quicker and bigger than they did in Vietnam. That’s what you and the people who brain-washed you are scared of, that someone will find out about your dirty war and take it away from you.
Wars are dirty, wake up. Photographers take pictures of reality not an opinion, twist it anyway you want, what is in the picture is reality and if you’re scared of showing that, than you’re just as bad as any oppressive regime trying to shape the public’s opinion by lying to them.
“this is the glue that binds” hooaa…. brainwashed retard!
Oh, and let’s see how you’re love of freedom works with censorship of my previous comment.
The previous two comments are made by someone who has chosen to use a moniker rather than his or her name. I am not sure what freedom of speech has to do with what FreedomFries is attempting to say, but in the spirit of openness, the comments shall be displayed.
“…a brainwashed retart…” is a wonderful way stir up an intelligent conversation. Please enjoy and thanks for playing, FreedomFries.