Earlier today, another oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 100 miles south of Vermilion Bay in Louisiana. If you've been following the story on cable television, you've probably noted the conspicuous lack of images of the disaster. If you've browsed over to the Miami Herald, you may have seen the photo below accompanying the story, and thought, "Wow. That's just like the Deepwater Horizon disaster."
Well, if that's what you thought, there's a reason for that. It is an image of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, specifically, an AP photo from April 21, 2010, shot by Gerald Herbert. Here it sits in a May 7, 2010 post at the Guardian.
The accompanying story is by Alan Sayre, also of the Associated Press. It's everywhere -- here it is at the Washington Times, the Star-Tribune, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and ABC News. As near as I can tell, only the Herald is using this photo. I understand that, at the moment, photo images of today's oil rig explosion are scarce -- and I know it seems like a small thing -- but the Miami Herald really shouldn't be re-appropriating an image of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in this instance without informing their readers.
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