Why help someone about to die when you can take a picture & make $5000 instead? NY Post's new low

[HiPointDem]

The New York Post is facing criticism over its decision to publish a front-page photo of a man, pushed onto the subway tracks in Midtown on Monday, trying to climb to safety before being fatally struck by an oncoming train.

Ki Suk Han, a 58-year-old from Queens, N.Y., was hurled from the 49th Street station platform onto the tracks by "a deranged man" around 12:30 p.m., according to the paper. Han was attempting to calm the man, apparently a panhandler, when a scuffle broke out, police say. The man then pushed him onto the tracks...

"Onlookers screamed, shouted and frantically waved their hands and bags in a bid to get the downtown Q train to stop," the Post reported. R. Umar Abbasi, a freelance photographer, was among those waiting on the platform. He said he tried to alert the train's conductor with his camera. "I just started running, running, hoping that the driver could see my flash," Abbasi told the tabloid.

During the chaos, Abbasi managed to snap the photo that the Post splashed on its cover. In a larger version of Abbasi's photo, people are seen huddled at one end of the platform in apparent fear. "People were shouting and yelling when it happened," Dr. Laura Kaplan, another witness, said. "But then people ran the other way."

"DOOMED," the Post declared on its front page. "Pushed on the subway track, this man is about to die...." "I would drop dead if I saw a family member about to be run over by a train on the cover of a newspaper," Chris Spooner wrote. "@nypost trades in snuff."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/nypost-photo-subway-tracks-cover-173659604.html


MURDOCH PAPER. WHEN WILL THIS CRIMINAL BE JAILED?

On edit: I chose not to paste the picture or link to murdoch's rag.

[HiPointDem]

2. AGREED.

[edbermac]

4. Agree on #2, not sure on #1

Wondering how fast the train was going, was it an express going thru the station or was it supposed to stop there? And if it were me I would be afraid that the guy could pull me down into the pit.

[DollarBillHines]

6. Point 1 will get you killed

That poor guy would've locked onto anyone who tried to help him. That's what terrified people do.

But I certainly agree with point 2.

[DollarBillHines]

9. Problem is, you need some real leverage to pull someone up a vertical surface.

The victim had no purchase, whatsoever.

Factoring in reaction time, the train would have sucked a rescuer in before he could release the victim. I have spent a lot of time in those tunnels.

I have pulled people out of burning cars and next-to-impossible riptides (amongst other incidents - plane crashes, burning houses, etc.), almost perishing every time.

But I would have left that guy alone.

I am leaving for NYC tomorrow. I will never look at the subway the same, again.

[DollarBillHines]

12. Thanks

We're doing our annual Prairie Home Companion at The Town Hall, then coming back to Wine Country to catch the program at War Memorial Opera House in SF.

[X_Digger]

8. How much do you weigh and how much can you lift?

Let's say you have five seconds to lift a 150lb man four feet. Can you do that in five seconds, knowing that the man likely won't let go if you can't lift him? That he may drag you onto the tracks in his panic to get out? Can you? For sure? Willing to bet your life on it?

[X_Digger]

17. That's a lot of thought process in a short amount of time.

I'm not sure I would expect an average person to be that level-headed in such a case.

I'm reminded of the recent story about the killer waves that claimed a son, his mother, and his father- the son went into the water to save the family dog, the man went in to save the son, the wife went in to save the father..

http://www.news10.net/news/article/218504/2/Parents-drown-trying-to-save-dog-search-called-off-for-teen

[X_Digger]

21. Yeah, hard to tell what a person would do.

We like to think we'd have done better, having the advantage of cold reason in hindsight. But until you're in a similar situation? We'll really never know.

[HiPointDem]

28. i know for a certainty: i wouldn't take a picture.

[limpyhobbler]

3. oh my

[Raine]

13. It seems possible anyone trying to pull someone out would likely be pulled in

and die too. It's wrong to be so judgemental when you don't really know because you weren't there.

[HiPointDem]

15. it seems possible they might have been able to pull him out & didn't have to take the picture,

too.

[Agschmid]

16. Thank you for not posting the picture...

It would just be unfeeling to do so.

I am incensed by Murdoch and his schemes to sell papers.

[customerserviceguy]

18. You can blame Murdoch

Or you can do what I do, and blame the "It's not my problem" attitude of the bystanders. I really do despise going to the city, if I'm in trouble, I know I'm fucked.

[HiPointDem]

19. NYC is the same city where not too long ago a man risked his own life to save someone

in the same situation.

but murdoch is promoting & profiting from this kind of pornography & lowest-common denominatorism. if people are becoming less caring, he is one part of the reason why.

i blame power because power can change the tone of public discourse in a heartbeat, whereas you & i can barely affect our limited realm.

[customerserviceguy]

22. He was regarded as a hero by a few

including me, and as an idiot by the vast majority. The city is a screwed up place to be, the normal rules of human behavior simply don't apply there.

Yes, Murdoch could have changed the tone of public discourse, or he could have simply given red meat to the jackals. I would have easily predicted what course he would have taken, and I would have been right. I see his slime every time I go to the grocery store, it's not difficult to figure out what he would do in any given situation.

[HiPointDem]

25. i remember it differently, at least as far as the news reports went. i don't remember

anyone calling him an idiot.

[Go Vols]

23. Person of interest in custody in NYC subway death

NEW YORK - A "person of interest" was taken into custody Tuesday in the case of a man who was pushed onto the subway tracks at a Times Square station and killed by a train.

Detective Martin Speechley said police "have a person of interest being questioned at the precinct" but that no arrest had been made.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/usatoday/article/1744875?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|News|s

[NYC Liberal]

24. Thankfully the Post didn't find that video of the man falling onto the third rail and

going up in flames as he was electrocuted.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

26. Who knows what we would in the situation with little time to figure what was best. But, as for the

Murdoch minion, he had the time, just not the conscience.

[HiPointDem]

27. i *know* i wouldn't take a picture. i am 100% sure of that.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

29. If I were a photographer, I don't know. Maybe it's like a reflex? Then there's the selling it to the

paper part.

[jollyreaper2112]

30. I wasn't there

I'm not familiar with the layout of where the event took place. I think second-guessing the actions of others in an emergency is the luxury of armchair first responders.

The Post was under no such pressure. While the photo is still news in a way, I don't really know what the value was in printing it. But the Post certainly printed it in the most offensive way possible, thus generating free publicity and making them more money.

We are all helping them with that. Feel dirty? I do, now, in some small way.