Is Nearly Naked Israeli Woman's Body Really Photo Of The Year?

A photo of Hamas members parading a slain Jewish woman's nearly naked body on the streets of Gaza has won an award for photo of the year. The woman is identified as Shani Louk who was abducted from a rave party at the borders of Gaza during Hamas' unprecedented attack on Israel last year. The photo was taken by a news agency Associated Press which helped it secure first place in the Pictures of the Year International award by US-based Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. The photo and the appreciation it received have outraged social media. People are criticising as an “outrageous desecration of Jewish life.”

As per the reports, the 22-year-old Louk was declared dead but her body has not been sent back from Gaza. The music/rave party that Louk attended was the first site to be attacked by Hamas. She including many people was abducted by people in Palestinian outfits and paraded through the streets of Gaza at the back of the pickup truck. 

Social media outrage on the photo

Social media is outraged at the insensitivity of the news agency. People are posting on X criticising the news agency and sympathising with the family of Louk who wanted to remember her as smiling.  

One of the users said, "The person who took this photo was part of the jihadist gang who murdered, tortured and raped civilians. The family didn’t want her remembered like this. This award celebrates her continued desecration. Her name was Shani Louk." 

The person who took this photo was part of the jihadist gang who murdered, tortured and raped civilians.

The family didn’t want her remembered like this. This award celebrates her continued desecration. Her name was Shani Louk pic.twitter.com/n6epjfE6lN

— Alex Hearn (@hearnimator) March 28, 2024

One more user on X openly called out a number of news agencies and said, "The Associated Press Hamas photographer who took a picture of the body of Shani Louk being paraded by terrorists, won a prestigious photography award. Photographers working for AP, CNN, NYT, and Reuters accompanied Hamas terrorists into Israel on 10/7 and knew about the attack."

This is how Shani Louk's family asked for her to be remembered. Smiling and alive.

The biggest photojournalism competition in the world decided to trample on the family's wishes in favor of giving a photo of Shani's mutilated body a prestigious award. She wasn't even named in… pic.twitter.com/y4L4R35bdA

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) March 28, 2024

The insensitivity of journalism

This incident reminds me of the time when an Indian news agency leaked, rather broadcasted on TV, the photo of the dead body of the Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The media handle received a lot of criticism for its insensitive act. Looking for the reasons behind his death, exploring his life and seeking people's opinions is important in journalism but making his dead body a piece of news is not. All the coverage could have been done without objectifying his dead body. This only showed that the media handle wanted to grow TRP, create a sensation and win followers. Is this what journalism means? 

Even in the case of Shani Louk's photo, journalism hit a new low by making it a business to gain profit. As one of the X users rightly pointed out, when it comes to violence, neutral journalism doesn't dehumanise the ones who suffer. Rather, it should depict the violence in a way that sensitises viewers against the violence. 

But in the photo, which won the first prize, violence was used to objectify the suffering of the woman, feed on the human tendency to feel excited or terrified by seeing dead bodies or torture and create a sensation. I am not a photographer but I am a viewer. And from a viewer's perspective, the photo did not just show the violence but the way it has been taken somehow normalises it rather than questioning it. 

Views expressed are the author's own.