"we are using the photo of Reese Phillips lying on the field after his injury because it is news and because it tells the story of a career-ending injury in one glance. Some of the most powerful visual journalism has been difficult to look at."
Now that's pretty funny. The photo is "news"? Is it? Is it really "powerful journalism"? I don't think it's journalism at all. It's a photo. If it was such news and powerful journalism, why not put it on the front page? Why bury it on the website? How does she know it's a "career-ending" injury? Can she tell by the photo? What's to say Phillips doesn't recover, play arena ball, play in the CFL, get a medical redshirt and play at UM or somewhere else? It's a season-ending injury. It may or may not be a career-ending injury.
On the other hand, I don't care if the photo is up or not. But if Phillips would like it down, why not take it down? The Missoulian is not going to get one extra reader because of the photo, other than maybe a few more clicks, but it's going to lose some subscribers and readers and cause more people to diss it. I gave up my subscription several years ago, because I disliked the Missoulian, Florio, etc. so much. No wonder the paper is shrinking, fading away, and probably dying. It is such an awful paper.