French Magazine Publishes Photos of Taliban in French Soldier Uniform
A French magazine has published photos of Taliban militants wearing uniforms taken from the bodies of French soldiers killed in a clash between the two sides several weeks ago.
Last month, Taliban attacked French soldiers when the latter were not suspecting anything. Ten of them were killed, others survived and went on to fight the Taliban. The bodies of the ten soldiers, however, were seemingly robbed of their uniforms by the Islamic extremists, who then quickly put them on and posed for pictures.
French magazine Paris Match then published the photos, sparking an angry response. Logically.
French Defense Minister Herve Morin accused the magazine of helping the Taliban. “Should we be doing the Taliban’s promotion for them?” he asked in newspaper Liberation.
Joel Le Pahun, father of one of the killed soldiers, told the newspaper the pictures were “despicable.”
Green MP Daniel Cohn-Bendit called them “voyeurism.”
Paris Match editor Laurent Valdiguie, however, defended publishing the photos arguing it was “legitmate” given the importance of the story.
Most important about the decision to publish the photos is the context of the story. Was it angrily written with regards to the Taliban, or were the extremists treated with respect, possibly admiration? And how about the main message? Was it in line with what the Taliban would have liked Paris Match to write, or the opposite?
In other words, how were the photos used? That’s what matters here.
Publishing the photos in themselves may not have been negative as such. If used to show the barbarity of the Taliban, and to display just how despicable they are, it is defensible.
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