Dear Editor:
I am a big fan of The Current, but believe as the gatekeeper of the paper, your choice to publish multiple disturbing photos of primates subject to animal abuse inside the Primate Products facility was tasteless. The point could have been made very well through the words of your talented team of writers. I think one photo may have even been acceptable. However, as I recovered from my photo induced nausea on the first page, I flipped to the next page, looking forward to reading Juan Gallo’s review of the Vampire Weekend show. Shockingly, more tragic and graphic photos continued! I usually read The Current from front to back, but at that point I couldn’t continue and threw the paper in the garbage.
Did any reader really need to see pictures of primates skulls butchered for your story to be effective? This is coming from a woman who is fairly liberal, fishes, hunts, is not a pet owner and is not generally affected by blood or gore. So, I can only imagine how the members of the NSU community who are passionate about and sympathetic to animals must have felt. There is a fine line between journalistic truthfulness and tastelessness and I think you were on the wrong side with this issue. When making a decision on photos to publish in the future, I would suggest you decide if the societal value of the photos outweigh the values it violates?
Respectfully,
Kim DuBois
Catering Manager
Chartwells
