The dramatic photo of a subway train bearing down on a doomed passenger became a story in its own right yesterday — and earned mixed reaction from scores of commentators.
“This is a photo that shows the everyday, fatal craziness of the city,” read one anonymous post on Gawker.
“The guy’s forever about to die because some nutjob went off the rails; anyone could be this man in front of the train.”
The writer compared it to an iconic 1993 photograph of a starving girl in Africa with a vulture ominously standing behind her.
It “drew the same kind of criticism (and still won a Pulitzer), as might any photo of critical situations,” wrote the commentator.
Katharine Zaleski, managing editor of the Now This News video site, tweeted a similar sentiment.
“Should we be having these debates about war photos too?” she asked.
Others bashed the decision to print the picture, which The Post used on its front page.
“The NY Post cover today crosses the line, IMHO. A pic of a man pushed onto a subway track right before he is struck and killed. Grim,” wrote ProPublica reporter Charles Ornstein on Twitter.
Joe Pompeo, of the Web site Capital New York, posted, “We nominate the wood [front page] of today’s New York Post as one of the most horrific tabloid covers in history.”
Ian Prior, sports editor of The Guardian, agreed. “Sickening rubber-necking front page from the New York Post. Imagine how this man’s family feels,’’ he tweeted.
An anonymous critic who calls himself “dh_editorial’’ tweeted, “Jeez, @nypost, you put the pic of this poor man about to be RUN OVER BY A TRAIN on your front page? Tasteless.”
Pompeo, Prior and dh_editorial all posted the photo or links to it.
The New York Times was neutral in its approach.
“The image is undeniably vivid. But should it have been published?” the paper asked on its Web site.
But Gothamist questioned whether the Gray Lady was being hypocritical, noting that it had put The Post’s front page featuring the photo on its Web site.