New York Times responds to KOT over Dusit images
The New York Times has come under intense pressure from its readers and Kenyans online for publishing graphic images of victims of Tuesday’s terror attack at Dusit D2 Hotel at Riverside Drive in Nairobi.
Kenyans on Twitter came out in droves to condemn the New York Times after it published gory images that attracted a global outcry.
In a statement, the American publication said: “We have heard from some readers upset with our publishing a photo showing victims after a brutal attack in Nairobi.”
“We understand how painful this coverage can be, and we try to be very sensitive in how we handle both words and images in these situations,” the statement read.
Images published by powerful paper on its website showed bodies in the restaurant, victims covered in blood and gory scenes.
This sparked off an online backlash, with some readers asking the publisher to pull them down, because of their distasteful nature.
But the publisher is yet to delete the photos from their story.
“We want to be respectful to the victims and to others affected by the attack. But we also believe it is important to give our readers a clear picture of the horror of an attack like this — this includes showing pictures that are not sensationalised but that give a real sense of the situation,” the publisher said in a statement published on Twitter on Wednesday morning.
The publisher said they take the same approach worldwide whenever such events occur by balancing the need for sensitivity for respect with its mission of showing the reality of the happenings.