Would you walk away?

I mentioned this to some of you in class and thought it's something interesting for you all to think about in relation to the responsibilities of a journalist and what you will do if you were a journalist in a situation like Rwanda or Sudan.
Would you help this child or would you walk away?

Kevin Carter’s Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of a Sudanese girl in the spring of 1993 was instrumental in brining international attention to the growing hunger crisis in Sudan. Despite taking over 20 minutes to take the photograph and eventually chasing the vulture away, Kevin ultimately only watched the little girl continue her struggle on to a U.N. food station (estimated at about one kilometer away) and then left her, never to know of the girl's fate.

Why didn't he help her? This has been the question of many since learning of Kevin’s story following his award. Why didn't he take that frail, precious little girl up into his arms and carry her to safety?

His inaction is not all that hard to imagine after learning about his past experiences and of his work. Before even seeing the horrors of Sudan, Kevin witnessed and was exposed to attrocities that occurred routinely in his own nation of South Africa. Like any seasoned pro, he had learned to keep an emotional distance from his subjects in order to stay focused on his work - to stay objective.

But Kevin was never able to put a full emotional distance from the events in Sudan following his return back to South Africa. Soon having brushes with death himself following his work in Sudan, and witnessing further horrors surrounding apartheid, his vices and personal troubles were only heightened by the day-to-day image capture of human tradgedy. Kevin was also known to suffer from frequent mental breakdowns following photo shoots, including those in Sudan. Sadly, soon following his elation of winning the Pulitzer in 1994, Kevin committed suicide just two months later. Many believe that he took his life as a result of what he experienced in Sudan, some believe that his past failings led to his death, others believe that it was a combination of past and recent events.

(Commentary taken from http://fdnf.typepad.com/live_from_the_fdnf/horn_of_africa/index.html)