Marco Vernaschi's Pulitzer Center-funded project on child sacrifice has generated fierce criticism, directed both toward Vernaschi's reporting methods and ethics and the role of the Pulitzer Center in backing this project. The issues raised are serious and we address them here.
Vernaschi reported the story over the course of two months, in January and February. The London Sunday Times printed one photograph from the project this past Sunday and on Friday we posted three articles by Vernaschi on Untold Stories.
The first, "Uganda: Child Sacrifice Not a Cultural Issue, reports on the increasing number of children mutilated and murdered in Uganda at the behest of fraudulent faith healers, and the efforts of police and local NGOs to combat the crime. The post also includes details of a three-year-old name Mukisa whose genitals were removed as part of a ritual sacrifice.
The second post, Babirye: The Girl from Katugwe, is equally horrific: the murder of 10-year-old Margaret Babirye Nankya**, whose arm and leg were cut off and her head sliced open. In this case a "traditional healer" was among three suspects arrested.
The third post, "The Man Behind RACHO," is a profile of Paul Odida, a former "healer" himself who now leads a Ugandan NGO aimed at eradicating child sacrifice. He and his associates were also key collaborators in Vernaschi's investigation.
Vernaschi's photographs are gut-wrenching, black-and-white portraits of pain and abuse. We share his belief that photography can play a powerful role in mobilizing public opinion, in Uganda and beyond, to stop this abuse. But we now believe -- and Vernaschi agrees -- that we were wrong in the way we handled the cases of Mukisa and Babirye.
The Untold Stories post on Mukisa included a photo showing Mukisa and his father. It also included a link to a photo gallery on Vernaschi's own site, however, with a full-frontal photo of the child showing the extent of his wounds. The photo was taken with the permission of Mukisa's parents, who hoped both to expose the crime he had suffered and to enlist support for the lengthy medical procedures he must face. Critics have said these reasons do not justify violating the rights of a child to dignity and privacy. We agree. Vernaschi has removed this photo from his website and has pledged not to distribute it further.
The photos of Babirye are just as problematic. Vernaschi says they were taken on the day after her murder, a few hours after her burial. As Vernaschi recounts on Untold Stories, he met with Babirye's mother and a village elder and asked that the body be exhumed so that he would have visual evidence of the abuse she had suffered. The family agreed. Afterward, as he was leaving, Vernaschi says that the village elder asked for a "contribution" and the mother asked for money to hire a lawyer. He gave them what he had, Vernaschi later said, leaving the family with about $70.
In the blog post Vernaschi makes clear his anguish over the decision he made, and also his belief that showing the enormity of this crime would galvanize public opinion and bring an end to child sacrifice. We believe he honestly held that view. We believe he gave the money out of compassion, in the emotion of the moment, and not as payment for exhuming Babirye's body.
Yet we also believe, and Vernaschi agrees, that it was wrong to ask that the body be exhumed. It showed disrespect for the dead, and forced a grieving family to suffer anew. It also had the effect of focusing attention on the actions of one journalist, as opposed to a horrific crime that needs to be exposed.
We regret any damage that may have been caused. We intend to continue this project, documenting the phenomenon of child sacrifice, but in so doing we we will redouble our efforts to authenticate every claim and to insure the privacy rights of individual victims.
In the course of this project so far we have learned some painful, useful lessons about the ambiguous intersections of free-lance journalism, blog posts and articles that are published or broadcast.
The Pulitzer Center has worked with dozens of journalists over the past four years, funding travel and providing initial editorial guidance but then partnering with established news-media outlets around the world. This has provided multiple layers of editorial review and control, with the goal of insuring compliance with the highest editorial standards.
The growth of the Pulitzer Center has resulted in our website becoming a significant outlet itself, especially our Untold Stories blog that features reports from the field by our journalist grantees. Given the increasing prominence of this platform we will be making our own standards more explicit, as a guide to our journalists and guarantee to readers.
**Update 04/25/10: We have updated the post to reflect the spelling of Babirye's full name according to the spelling used by Ugandan newspapers.
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re: Questions on Uganda: Child Sacrifice
" The Developing whatever you are"
I have no great problems how a story is put together, either way it will be opinion based. It is pretty easy to be selective in media ie photograph, record etc what you want and dismiss what one doesn't want, then all that happens it is fine tuned to create a narrative based on a point of view. Most PJs only give one side of a story and post few success stories (it ain't newsworthy).
I bet my parents, friends etc did stuff that I figured was unforgivable especially as a kid but I don't chuck them out with the bath water. Heck my govt went the Iraq under false pretences, sure I protested but I wasn't going after their scalp ...... forgiving them was not that hard even though it still irks me. We move on and hope that there will be changes.
I am sure Marcos sees that his judgement was a bit amiss but I can understand how he arrived at making those decisions probably more so than the The Pulitzer Center who are more akin to the attitudes of the www dot media just as your site/blog whatever is. All these sites are same same but different, trying to outdo each other in stances of integrity, being open being fair, with catch cry phrasing( just look at your own). What they want to be is at the top of the pile in newsworthiness.
The knock on effect for other photographers on other photographers will be stuff all just as the guys that ran to Haiti and ran workshops, done and dusted forgiven and we have moved on
Maybe you have a real name just like mine is Imants
re: Questions on Uganda: Child Sacrifice
Did Marco Vernaschi also get the little girls name wrong? And the location? Just interesting that the Ugandan newspaper New Vision calls her Margaret Babirye Nankya and does not mention a village called Katugwe. They clearly say the girl was buried in Kavunza in Matugga. But they might be wrong?
See at the bottom of this story: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/70809
re: Questions on Uganda: Child Sacrifice
Please see Marco Vernaschi's statement regarding this matter, which includes a new statement from the Pulitzer Center and links to video interviews with the mother of Margaret Babirye Nankya and Richard Omongole, a Ugandan lawyer and former country director for Amnesty International:
http://untoldstories.pulitzercenter.org/2010/04/uganda-response-to-critics.html
re: Questions on Uganda: Child Sacrifice
@Imants ... That would be the 'story' of staged photos and facts that didn't stack up?
If the presentation of the story seems half baked to people in the West, how do you think its going to go down in Uganda? Especially when the Ugandan Observer paper prints the 'story' about the photographer who persuaded a family to illegally dig up their dead daughter.
And what do you think might be the knock on effect for other photographers?
Vernaschi scalped himself, its just desperately sad to see an organisation that does such great work as the Pulitzer Centre let him scalp them too.
re: Questions on Uganda: Child Sacrifice
There is a bit of "we want your scalp mentality" about all of this. What will that achieve?......personal satisfaction of we won, woopie!!
Let the story get back on track, which is about the plight of the children forced into these circumstances and can we do something to change this type of mindset in Uganda
re: Questions on Uganda: Child Sacrifice
If this happened in the West would the Pulitzer Center feel obliged to contact the family and perhaps offer some access to counseling as a small show of forgiveness? I suggest you start looking into it. The parents income and education level may be much less then yours but their grief is as great as any rich westerner who's child was murdered......and buried twice.
re: Questions on Uganda: Child Sacrifice
......... mistakes are made and time moves on but the problems remain
re: Questions on Uganda: Child Sacrifice
This is a welcome response from the Pulitzer Centre. We published this story because we believed that Vernashi's actions brought the good name of the Pulitzer Centre and photojournalism into disrepute. More that that Vernashi's actions if left unquestioned would set a new low in the debate over what is and isn't ethical in the pursuit of a story.
The Pulitzer Centre has published many great stories over the years, always with tremendous respect for those featured in the stories. They do vital work.
re: Questions on Uganda: Child Sacrifice
Dear Mr. Jon. I feel profoundly disgusted with you calling our effort to promote fairness "ambiguous intersections of free-lance journalism".
The Pulitzer Center was in my mind the most reliable place to discuss this matter and therefore the Pulitzer Center was the very first to be advised by me about Marco. You never paid any respect or consideration regarding my self. Still today I never received any answer from you. On the other had you forwarded my e-mail to Marco.
You sound like the Pope defending his failed church. Maybe it is time for The Pulitzer Center to rethink about how Joseph Pulitzer´s values are being treated today by the current administration.
re: Questions on Uganda: Child Sacrifice
i've read and carefully re-read the post on The Vigilante Journalist referred to in the below post, and must say that the Pultizer Center's (and that of its Board/staff)reputation is at stake. This story won't go away because it touches the very heart of ethics in journalism and photojournalism, and if the Pulitzer Center is unable or unwilling to address it AND redress it, it'll tarnish its image.
re: Questions on Uganda: Child Sacrifice
A welcome response indeed. I expected nothing less from an esteemed institution such as the Pulitzer Center, and look forward to its continued work.
re: Questions on Uganda: Child Sacrifice
Having just read this post which clearly shows how facts have been manipulated in one most shocking ways possible I would like to withdraw my last comment. Read here
http://vigilantejournalist.com/blog/archives/1615 I would like to withdraw my last comment.
Which includes this written statement by the Ugandan prosecuter:
The money he gave the mother was actually to influence her to allow for the illegal exhumation of the body but not for a defence lawyer over a crimial case.
Whilst the Pulitzer funds this project they are complicit in the actions of Marcus Vernaschi, the true depths of which only now come to light.
What possible justification is left Jon? Pull the plug.