Argumentative Essay: The Case Of Omayra Sanchez

In the discussion of Omayra Sanchez, a controversial issue on this tragedy has been whether or not is was ethical to publish the footage of Omayra’s last moments. One hand people argue that publishing the picture was disturbing and the photo journalists were acting as “vultures” by taking the footage. On the other hand many are saying that they were honoring Omayra by telling her story. My view is that it was a necessary evil to document this tragedy, the reasons supporting my view are threefold.

The first being, that by documenting the calamity they honor not only Omayra, but all those who had lost their lives due to the natural disaster. “I felt the only thing I could do was to report properly on the courage and the suffering and the dignity of the little girl and hope that it would mobilise the people to help the ones that had been rescued and had been saved,” said Frank Fournier according to a BBC article published September 30th, 2005. What we can take from Fournier’s quote is that the intentions of Fournier’s work was never like that of a “vulture”. We can see the respect the Fournier had for Omayra being so courageous and dignified until the end. We can also see that there was no other way that Fournier could have helped, except by doing his job. By reporting on what had happened to

Yes, I believe it was because, by publishing the photo they were able to honor Omayra and the thousands of others who lost their lives due to the disaster. Also for the reason that it was Fournier’s job to report on the tragedy, and he did just that, in a respectful and empathetic matter. Finally, for the reason that by publishing the footage Fournier was able to bring into the light the suffering that occurs when powerful political leaders choose to be negligent of potentially lethal scenarios. Omayra’s story is a powerful one, of courage and grandeur, one that will live on for years to