“A horrific photo of a drowned Syrian child”: Humanitarian photography and NGO media strategies in historical perspective

Abstract

This article is a historical examination of the use of photography in the informational and fundraising strategies of humanitarian organizations. Drawing on archival research and recent scholarship, it shows that the figure of the dead or suffering child has been a centrepiece of humanitarian campaigns for over a century and suggests that in earlier eras too, such photos, under certain conditions, could "go viral" and achieve iconic status. Opening with last year's photo campaign involving the case of 3-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi, whose body washed up on a Turkish beach near Bodrum in early September 2015, the article draws on select historical examples to explore continuities and ruptures in the narrative framing and emotional address of photos depicting dead or suffering children, and in the ethically and politically charged decisions by NGO actors and the media to publish and distribute such images. We propose that today, as in the past, the relationship between media and humanitarian NGOs remains symbiotic despite contemporary claims about the revolutionary role of new visual technologies and social media.

The Influence-Network Model of the Photojournalistic Icon

“…Since September 2015, many Alans have followed. (Fehrenbach & Rodogno, 2015, pp. 1152-1153 In considering iconic image creation, we continue to look to Lasswell's (1948) theory of communication; having already discussed image capture and context, now we consider image purpose.…”

Too dead? Image analyses of humanitarian photos of the Kurdi brothers

“…The Kurdi images were considered humanitarian photographs because of the intention behind their publication in news media. Images of dead children could be published for mainly humanitarian purposes, to create an understanding of the refugees' situation, not least the unfair situation of refugee children, in order to affect readers' emotions (Fehrenbach andRodogno 2015, 2016). An interesting paradox is that the motifs in humanitarian photographs do not have to be humanitarian per se; usually they are extremely repulsive, precisely in order to make people react.…”

“…His intention was to get a political response to the ongoing refugee situation in Europe. Fehrenbach and Rodogno (2015) point to the rhetorical arguments Bouckaert expressed from the perspective of the observer as father, arguing that the toddler in the picture could be anyone's child, so we must respond with the emotions of a parent. The same day, Amol Rajan, editor in chief of the British newspaper The Independent, tweeted about the upcoming front page with the headline 'Somebody's child' and a photo of Alan Kurdi lying on the shore (Werner 2015).…”

“…Later the same day, Peter Bouckaert, director of emergencies at Human Right Watch, posted a picture of Alan Kurdi on his Twitter account (see Figure 1). His tweet caused worldwide circulation of the photo on social media as well as in news media (Fehrenbach and Rodogno 2015). It was Alan Kurdi's little sneakers that caught Bouckaert's (2015a) attention, since they remained him of some precious moments in lifethe morning routine at home when he put on his kids' shoes.…”

“…Now, some years later, only Alan seems to be remembered. His case has been the subject of, or mentioned in, several academic studies (see, for instance, Fehrenbach and Rodogno 2015;Molar 2016;Morensen and Trenz 2016;Ticktin 2016;Mortensen, Allan, and Peters 2017;Lenette and Miskovic 2018;Sohlberg, Esaiasson, and Martinsson 2018). Nevertheless, the following questions remain unanswered: What made the images of Alan Kurdi become iconic while the images of his brother Galip did not attract viewers in the same way?…”