ABSTRACT
In July 2000, an Air France Concorde jet on its way to New York crashed shortly after taking off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, killing 109 people on board and four more on the ground. News organisations, moving swiftly to put together a major breaking story, quickly discovered that they were reliant on citizen witnesses for descriptions of what they had seen and heard, as well as for any imagery they were able to contribute. “The sight of Concorde, the world’s fastest passenger aircraft, making its doomed ascent into French skies trailing a plume of fire seconds before exploding in a ball of flame, is certain to be one of the defining news images of the 21st century,” journalist Valerie Darroch (2000) wrote at the time. The image in question, which she suggested was likely to be “indelibly etched on the collective memory”, had been taken by an amateur photographer. Hungarian engineering student Andras Kisgergely, enjoying his hobby of plane-spotting with a friend, had been near the scene with a small Canon Reflex 35 mm camera. Reuters purchased the rights to Kisgergely’s image – Brian MacArthur (2000) of The Times having dubbed him “the newspaper hero of the night” for his photo-reportage – relaying it around the world in time for it to feature prominently on front pages the next day. Toshihiko Sato, a Japanese businessperson waiting to board a flight, also happened to shoot a newsworthy image, capturing the instant the engine burst into flames. Rights for its use were secured by a British picture agency, Buzz Pictures, which in turn negotiated exclusive terms with a London newspaper, the Mirror (Rees, 2000).
