World Press Photo: Still image of injured Muammar Gaddafi receives Special Mention
A still image of a video showing Muammar Gaddafi being pulled onto a military vehicle after his capture has received a Special Mention at the 2012 World Press Photo
Author: Olivier Laurent
10 Feb 2012 Tags: World press photoPhotojournalismAwards
According to World Press Photo, the jury considers a visual document for a Special Mention "when it has played an essential role in the news reporting of the year worldwide and could not have been made by a professional photographer."
This year, the judges selected a still image taken from a video shot in Sirte, Libya, on 20 October 2011, minutes after Muammar Gaddafi was captured by the Libyan National Transition Council. It shows the bloodied dictator being dragged onto a truck minutes before his death.
"The photo captures an historic moment, an image of a dictator and his demise that we otherwise would not have seen, had it not been photographed by a member of the public," says Aidan Sullivan, the chair of the World Press Photo jury. "There were no professional photographers there, and this photo had an impact. It had news value," he tells BJP.
Nina Berman, a Noor photographer and member of this year's jury, adds: "There was a very strong point mentioned by a jury member during the judging process. He was saying that if we awarded anything from the public that it should be for a picture taken recently in Syria, because this is the one place where it's really hard to get pictures by professionals. But in the end it was this Gaddafi picture that came out on top, because it really is a unique moment in history - a moment when a dictator was mobbed physically by the people. That's why we chose it."
"This was an important document for posterity, for transparency, and to understand the dynamics of how Gaddafi came to his end," says jury member Renata Ferri in a statement.
For more coverage of the World Press Photo's results, check www.bjp-online.com/tag/world-press-photo.
Comments
What a pity you couldn`t better Eddie Adams shot in Saigon. Immagine a rebel executing Gaddafi with his own gold pistol. You would become the best of the best.
Wish to all jury members to meet their ends same way. Bloody jackals. Is this your democracy and freedom? F**k it.
So, stills from an uncredited video of Gaddafi being carried injured gets a special mention in World Press Photo.
How is it that the Abu Ghraib photos were ignored in the recent past then? After all, in 2004: "when it has played an essential role in the news reporting of the year worldwide and could not have been made by a professional photographer."
This smacks of the WPP playing catch-up after completely missing the boat with Abu Ghraib. The post-modern world has determined that 'non-professional' image makers using 'non-professional' equipment will provide a growing amount of remarkably 'newsworthy' images.
According to World Press Photo, the jury considers a visual document for a Special Mention "when it has played an essential role in the news reporting of the year worldwide and could not have been made by a professional photographer."
Perhaps it was lost in translation, but shouldn't 'could not have been' read 'was not' - I am sure any 'professional' photographer worthy of the description could have managed it. The simple fact is there were none there; although a few, arguably pointlessly, gave their lives in the attempt.
Much is made of the jury members and the decision making process but no credit to the image maker; this speaks volumes and effectively adds insult to injury.
But then it has been said that absence of authorship adds to authenticity.
Dear Sirs,
I`d like to inform you soonest possible that Your democracy and "human rights" - just cesspool, bullshit and hypocrisy.
Author of image and Jury members as well are dirty animals .
Best regards from barbarian intolerant Russia.
Timur
Now, why didn't you put a photo of a NATO UAV that actually overthrew Libyan government and put al-Qaeda thugs in control of Libya ?
Or a photo of a 3 year old girl murdered by that NATO UAV ?
Or a CIA file on Abdelhakim Belhadj, the al-Qaeda thug that is currently in control of Libya thanks to NATO UAVs murdering more than 50000 civilians ?
Or how about the photo of a Great Man-Made River, a water supply system in Libya built by late Col. Gaddafi ? Which is now failing because al-Quaide thugs that NATO propped up can't really do anything other than murder and rape ?
Come to think of it, as a New Yorker I encourage you to visit downtown New York and take a photo of what happend last time US govt decided to prop up and arm al-Qaeda thugs against a "dictator" ?
Oh, and don't forget the photos of Libyan oil rigs - you know, the REAL reason why NATO bombed Libya into dust.
But no, you prefer to take a photo of a statesman murdered by al-Qaeda thugs.
Muammar Gaddafi would go down in history together with 300 spartans, a hero who gave his life fighting against impossible odds. You would go down in history together with Nazi propaganda minister Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels.
Disrespectfully,
Tony
Don't you think that NATO actually did the destruction of Libya? These scoundrels on the ground were controlled by NATO "advisers", so NATO carries the responsibility of unlawful killing.
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