Ed Keating lost his job in NYT over the report that he staged a photograph for a sensitive NYT story. Village Voice seems to the only publication that (kind of) defended him.
For example, when Keating was detained by Serb soldiers in Kosovo in 1999, he charmed his captors by playing a mean version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" on the harmonica. In 1991, when Keating was covering the riots in Crown Heights, he was almost beaten to death by a crowd of black men. Two transit cops discovered his bloody body and took him to the hospital, where he got 50 stitches in the back of the head. ....
Keating has always landed on his feet, but few expected him to survive the wrath of Times executive editor Howell Raines and managing editor Gerald Boyd. ..... After all, Columbia's School of Journalism is the home of the Pulitzers and a training ground for Times employees. Given the Times' cozy relationship with Columbia, CJR's allegations carry more weight than they would coming from an antagonist. "
(both links via Romenesko's media news)
Keating was part of the NYT team that won a pulitzer last year for its coverage of 9/11 (he was also arrested by the NY port authority police for photographing the recovery of bodies of their fellow workers). His photo essay Rt 66: A Journey Across America is still available in the NYT archive.
It can be argued that a lot of photojournalism is orchestrated by someone or other. That many more important events are either staged or manipulated by or for photographers. But still this doesn't feel right.
I hope Keating manages to pick up the pieces of his life and continue to make great images.
Posted by Kaushik at January 17, 2003 02:18 PM | TrackBack