Facebook deleted a photo of a starving Yemeni child, saying that the photo was inappropriate content. The photo came from a column written by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. Kristof criticized Facebook, saying that as a media gatekeeper, they were preventing the world from seeing how dire and tragic the situation has become for thousands of children.
Twenty four hours later, Facebook relented, saying that the deletion was a mistake. That has kicked off fresh debate on a number of levels. How does Facebook decide what we are, and are not, allowed to see? What kind of problems are created if we censor photographs of this nature? Our guests discuss it:
- William Snyder, four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, and chair of the photojournalism program at RIT
- Jenn Poggi, assistant professor of photojournalism at RIT, and former photo editor for the Associated Press and U.S. News & World Report
- Scott Malouf, attorney whose work focuses on the intersection of social media and the law
