The Associated Press (AP) has explained its decision last week to publish an image of Lance Corporal Joshua M. Bernard, a US marine fatally wounded in combat in Afghanistan.
According to reports, the soldier’s family did not want the photo in question to be published.
The AP has also confirmed it received a letter from US defence secretary Robert Gates asking the agency not to publish it.
Now the agency has explained its decision – including the following from the AP’s director of photography, Santiago Lyon:
“AP journalists document world events every day. Afghanistan is no exception. We feel it is our journalistic duty to show the reality of the war there, however unpleasant and brutal that sometimes is.”