Index World Press Photo
May 2006 | Edition Four     


In edition three, Kari Andén-Papadopoulos wrote about the controversial photographs taken by US soldiers at the Abu Ghraib camp in Iraq.

You can read her thoughts by clicking here and choosing Talking Points from the left-hand navigation. Then use the back button on your browser to return here.

Twenty-eight year old Vlastimil Buzek from Palkovice in Northern Moravia, part of the Czech Republic, read the feature and sent us his thoughts.

Vlastimil takes photographs but, he says, "not as many I would like". He often visits Prague for photographic exhibitions and says the World Press Photo event is "certainly the one to see".

Says Vlastimil:

"Good morning form the Czech Republic.

I've just read the Talking Point article about the Abu Ghraib photographs and
their impact on policy and the public inside and outside the USA.

During the occupation of Iraq, there was no independent news and no reporters allowed. The public was fed by official articles and photographs.

However, not everyone is a "couch potato" and people like to make up their own minds.

The problem was that the political and critical debate lacked independent, verifiable information too and in the end it was provided by those US soldiers who took the pictures.

Every conflict needs some icons: icons of victory, icons of defeat, icons
of hate and icons of criticism.

And no matter how the media are controlled, these icons will pop up sooner or later. And they are are used by the public, independent of official control."

World Press Photo exhibition, Prague 2006
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