Migrant crisis: Should pictures of a drowned Syrian boy be shared on social media?

EDITOR'S NOTE (GRAPHIC WARNING):This story contains twographic photographs of a young boy who died, images some viewers may find disturbing. They are embedded at the bottom of this story, after the last paragraph of text. CBC News has decided to include the photos to allowfor the fullest understanding of the event, but we do want to give readers the option to not scroll down and click away if they don't want to see them.

On social media this week, wedged betweenselfies and posts about breakfast, are graphic images of dead Syrian children, their bodies washed ashore.

One image in particular of a tiny boy, maybe oneor twoyears old, facedown in the sand was trending online globally Wednesdayafter it was shared by influentialactivists likePeter Bouckaert, the emergency director for Human Rights Watch.

The toddler, whose body was found Wednesday,is one of a dozen Syrian civil war refugeeswho drowned off the coastal town of Bodrum in Turkey after afailed attempt tocross theMediterranean on two boats bound for the Greek island of Kos. More than320,000 people have attempted the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean,and hundredshave died trying, according to Reuters.

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"This obviously is a very difficult picture to be confronted with, and I don't tweet such graphic pictures all the time. I do understand the impact they have on people,"Bouckaert told CBC News from Budapest, where he is interviewing Syrian refugees.

"But in this case, it was really important for people to become confronted with the horror of what's happening to Syrians right now."

'It just hits you'

The photos of the boy have sparkeda debate about the role of social media in documenting the refugee crisis and the ethical implications of sharing such graphic imagery.

"In the world of mainstream media,you would basically warn your readers your viewers. You would say, 'This piece contains graphic images,'" says Alfred Hermida, a University of B.C. journalism professor and author ofTell Everyone: Why We Share and Why It Matters.

"If you'rebrowsing in your Facebook feedor your Twitter feed,you don't get that alertit just pops up. You haven't made a choice to see the picture; it just hits you."

Vincent Mosco, a sociology professor from Queen's University in Kingston and a formerCanada Research Chair in Communication and Society, says there is a long tradition of using provocativephotographs to draw attention to international tragedies.

"I can recall back in the '60s and '70s when we would see photos like this posted in newspapers regarding the Vietnam War," he says.

"We simply now have media that can reach more people and it'sbecoming more difficult for people to avoid seeing them."

In this case, says Mosco, that's a good thing.

"Retweeting and sharing these pictures, I would argueis, in fact, ethical," he says. "While I appreciate people's sensitivities, photos like this representsituations that the world needs to know about and the world needs to act on."

'Everyone is the media'

Many newspapers, including the Guardianand theIndependentin the U.K., ran the images uncensored.

"The Independent has taken the decision to publish these images because, among the often glib words about the 'ongoing migrant crisis,'it is all too easy to forget the reality of the desperate situation facing many refugees," an editor's note read.

A competing newspaper, the Mirror, postedversions of the pictures with the child blurred.

In Canada, the Globe and Mail posted one of the images uncensored and without warning at the top of a story about the how the photo spread on social media. The National Post ran it inside astory about the migrant crisis, with a graphic image warning at the top.

In the U.S., the New York Times ran the story about the deaths without any images.

CBC News has opted to use the picture "sparingly" and "in a respectful and minimal manner" withinappropriate stories with warnings at the top,according to a memo fromDavidStuder,director of journalistic standards and practices.

Hermida says journalists, asgatekeepers,havealways had to ask themselves whether publishing graphic images is in the publicinterest. Now, he says, everyone shares that responsibility.

"Everyone is the media now," he says.

Context matters

Similar debates about the ethics of social media sharing have sprung up around videos of police killings, ISIS propaganda, and most recently, the on-air shootings of a reporter and cameraman in Virginiathat was also filmed by the killer and posted online.

In the latter example, the New York Post used still images from the video on its cover a move applauded by somefor showing what really happenedand condemned by othersfor giving the killer the publicity he seemingly wanted.

Each of these situations needs to be evaluated separately and in context,says Mosco.

"Anyone who writes a story or posts an image or a video has an ethical responsibility.I would say that it is unethical to be posting photosor videos distributed by ISIS that depict thebeheading of one of their prisoners," he says.

"In the case of the photos around Syria and refugees, we have a different situationand one might make the casethat any ethically responsibleperson would, in fact,post them because what we can observe in Syriais most likely the world's greatest human rightstragedy, at least of this year,and many people don't know about it and need to know about it."

'An image that we all need to see'

Hermidanotes that people who might otherwise ignore news coverage about the refugee crisis will be moved by the pictures on social media.

"Itbrings it home topeoplethat this is not just these faceless refugeesfromfarawayplaces and numbers we can'tmake sense of. It makes it very,very personal," he says. "This is the thing about socialmedia it's very personal."

Bouckaert says it helps put a human face on the migrant crisis to counter anti-refugee sentiments being spread by some pundits and political leaders.

British Prime MinisterDavid Cameronhas described people fleeing to Europe from places like Syria and Afghanistanas a "swarm." U.K. Sun columnistKatie Hopkins called them "cockroaches" and said gunships should be deployed against them.

In Bouckaert'stweet, he invitespeople to imagine the child in the photo as their own:

"This is a horrific image, but it is an image that we all need to see because we need to understand thatour collective failure to stop the slaughter in Syria for the last four years and notwelcome the people who flee its horrors are causing people to die and suffer tremendously."