Intermittent enemy artillery fire covered the area of the “Roman ruins” on the Easy Read sector of Omaha Beach, where Capa landed, but it primarily targeted larger landing craft, and was not capable of stopping an infantry advance. The area of the ruins was in fact a seam in the enemy defenses, one that would prove fatal to the Germans and a godsend to the Americans. […]
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Gabriel Coutagne’s diatribe in Le Monde pretends to engage with the evidence of our Capa D-Day investigation, but misrepresents and/or misunderstands almost all of it. His elementary mistakes suggest that he either (a) didn’t read large chunks of our research, or Patrick Peccatte’s excellent summary thereof, or (b) read it too hastily and misconstrued it, or (c) has difficulty understanding written English. […] As for the assertion by Morris’s business partner Robert Pledge that this world-famous picture editor who spent much of his working life talking daily with professional photographers and custom printers and darkroom staffers, handling prints and negatives, his offices just a few steps away from professional darkrooms, has absolutely no idea what goes on in those oh-so-mysterious places — risible, no? […] Hiding in the surf behind the disabled assault vehicle as Capa did represented just one option at that juncture. The battle had already begun to move off the beach and up the ridge; Capa could have followed the action and gone along. After all, that’s why LIFE had given him this highly coveted front seat. […] Donald Winslow wrote recently in a May 11 Facebook post, “Investigative journalism is a lifetime of uncovering other people’s and government’s lies.” This from the editor of the official journal of the National Press Photographers Association who commissioned a feature article dismissive of our research, violating every tenet of journalistic ethics regarding full disclosure and conflict of interest by publishing the result in “News Photographer.” This man has no shame; his hypocrisy truly knows no bounds. […] |
 SPJ Research Award 2014 |