In the past several weeks, the paper has published stories about several tragic events. I understand reporting the news, but the photographs accompanying these articles have been distasteful, and almost unethical.

There are three stories that come to mind. The first was of a shooting on Minot Avenue. There was a front page aerial photo of a deceased (or dying) woman in her driveway. The second was a teenager who was struck by a car while riding her bicycle. The photo of the rescue effort showed the young woman still pinned under the car and a woman still in the driver’s seat. Most recently, there was the story of a car accident on Route 4, with the photo showing crash victims still being treated at the scene by emergency personnel.

Sun Journal editors have sacrificed taste and compassion for the victims and their families, all to sell more papers.

The public’s “right to know” is sufficiently covered by the printed story. All of those photos could have been substituted with one more tasteful but still relevant.

Simply waiting a few minutes for the victims to be removed from a crash scene doesn’t sacrifice the whole story, and it is simple human decency to do so.

I hope the photographers responsible for those photos take a moment to think about how they would feel if someone were snapping pictures of their child in an emergency situation.

We’re all people, and everyone deserves more respect than those pictures show.

Grace Fenderson, Sumner

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