LATEST IN THE NEWS!! Newspaper fury over Facebook ‘Napalm girl’ censorship
Facebook has removed the iconic image of a girl fleeing a Napalm strike during the Vietnam war on the grounds of nud***, from a post.
The editor of Norwegian paper Aftenposten said the whole post, which was about iconic war images, was later deleted and the accounts of the reporter behind it suspended.
Espen Egil Hansenhas accused Mark Zuckerberg of “an abuse of power”.
Facebook said it needs to confine nud*** for cultural reasons.
Mr Hansenhas said the picture was removed less than 24 hours after the paper received a request in the firm to either take the image down or pixelate it and before it had reacted.
“While we recognise this picture is iconic, it’s challenging to create a distinction between enabling a photograph of a nu** kid in one instance and not others,” Facebook said in a statement.
“We try and find the right balance between empowering people to express themselves while keeping a safe and respectful encounter for our global community. Our alternatives will not always be perfect, but we will continue to strive to improve our policies and the manners in which we apply them.”
The image was, also shared by several Norwegian politicians, including Prime Minister Erna Solberg but within hours it had been removed Aftenposten reports.
An open letter has been written by Mr Hansenhas .
‘Encouraging stupidity’
He described Mr Zuckerberg as “the world’s most powerful editor” but added that he was restricting Aftenposten’s own editorial responsibilities.
“I ‘m stressed the world’s most important medium is limiting freedom rather than attempting to extend it and that this occasionally happens within an authoritarian way,” he wrote.
The letter continues to say: “If you WOn’t distinguish between child pornography and documentary photos from a war, this will only promote stupidity and neglect to bring human beings closer to each other.
Aftenposten is the greatest newspaper in circulation in Norway.
The social network said it had to have exactly the same rules for everybody.
Editorial obligations
Social media advisor Sue Llewellyn said she considered Facebook’s actions were heavy handed.
“I comprehend what they’re saying but I believe they have been over the top,” she said.
“It’s preposterous when everybody understands that picture, and it’s also such an iconic picture, to ban it.”
She also disagreed with Mark Zuckerberg’s comments last month that his business is a technology firm, not a media organisation.
“You can not be a distributor of news without having editorial responsibilities,” she said.
