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
http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/zoriah-in-haiti
Hard Times Going Down the Road 
Is Zoriah Miller a cause célèbre
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
http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/zoriah-in-haiti
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Filed under Current Events, media commentary, photography, photojournalism, Uncategorized
Tagged as Iraq War coverage, New York Times, photojournalism, war, Zoriah Miller