Sterne’s Gun: Virginia Tech Survivor Kevin Sterne’s Penis

NEWSPAPERS will show you the charred flesh of bombing victims and the last moments of dictator Saddam Hussein’s life but god forbid readers of the world are put off their cornflakes by the sight of a flaccid penis.The New York Post and People have been accused of doctoring one of the most iconic images of the Virginia Tech massacre that appears to show a blood-soaked student, Kevin Sterne, being carried away by medics, with his penis flapping in the breeze.

(The Sun newspaper has also been accused of the same thing, though the paper’s website currently displays an undoctored image.)

In the wake of recent examples of altered photographs, like those taken by Reuters photographer Adnan Hajj during the Lebanon war, many news outlets have reaffirmed their commitment not to mess with images.

But the problem in the case of Kevin Sterne is that the offensive-looking pink blob may not have been his penis at all. Apparently, the fuzzy protrusion sticking up from his waist is part of a tournique that the quick-thinking student applied to his injured leg, and which possibly saved his life.

Though that didn’t stop readers of newspapers which printed the uncensored image from writing in to complain.

A reader of the Hartford Courant wrote: “You are showing his penis right on the front page. I think that’s disgusting…. I think you should have blocked it out or something.” According to the New York Post’s Col Allan, that was precisely this reason that led the Post to alter the image to “protect the wounded student’s dignity but in no way change the news impact of the picture.”

The same fears were raised at the Roanoke Times, which employed the photographer Alan Kim who took the photograph.

But rather than alter the image, the Times took a careful look at the photograph. Kim pulled it up on a 21-inch screen and enlarged it. He told The Poynter Institute: “I looked at it very carefully, and I looked at the other stuff surrounding [that area] in the picture, and I decided it’s not; it looked more like a tourniquet.

“I said, ‘No, I don’t think it is [a penis].’ And that was the end of it.”

Of course, that didn’t stop complaints that the blood-soaked photograph was too graphic anyway. But it has stirred debate in the picture desk world whether any manipulation, even for the sake of a victim’s dignity, can ever be allowed.

Click picture to, er, enlarge…

Anorak

Posted: 27th, April 2007 | In: Anorak In New York Comments (2) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink