Introduction Nowadays, journalists often publish content that may offend their audiences: photos and videos of bombings and killings, fake news, content created on the troll farms. Few people adhere to the fact that such information violates ethical principles of journalism. This work aims to evaluate the decision of a photojournalist John Harte and managing editor Robert Bentley to publish a photograph of a family mourning over the body of their drowned son. Case Raview In 1984, a photojournalist for the Californian John Harte found himself at the scene of an accident when a 5-year-old boy Edward Romero drowned in Hart Park Lake. Harte took some pictures of the rescue operation, including an image capturing the moment when the rescuers found the body of a drowned boy and showed it to the family (Green, 1985). Managing editor Robert Bentley approved the publication of a photograph along with an article about a drowned boy. Although the Californian never published dead bodies, Bentley decided to violate this rule. On the next day after the publication, a wave of the readers’ criticism fell on the Californian: they received more than 500 letters, 300 calls, and 80 terminations during the one day. Bentley had to apologize for the decision to publish the photograph. Harte was sure that his editor was wrong to apologize. In an interview for the Chicago Tribune, Harte stated: “The picture should have run… I am very sorry that little boy died, but I am proud of the shot” (Green, 1985, para. 14). He emphasized that the Californian was not a sensationalistic paper, and there have been a lot of drownings in the Hart Park Lake area that year. In the month that followed the month of the photo publication, the drowning statistics decreased dramatically from fourteen to only two people. After the photograph was published in the Californian, Harte sent it to the Associated Press. The photograph was then nominated for the Associated Press Photo of the Year and won the nomination (Harte, 2014). Thus, an ethical dilemma arose whether this photograph should have been published. On the one hand, the publication offended some readers and violated the privacy of the grieving family; on the other hand, it could have saved at least 12 lives and was recognized as a masterpiece of journalism. Ethical Problems and Broken Principles Firstly, the compliance with the ethical principles of journalism should be analyzed. According to Clifford, Fackler, Richardson, and Kreshel (2016), journalists should adhere to the principles of “decency and basic fairness,” “redeeming the social value,” and “respect for personal dignity” when making controversial decisions (p. 120). Researchers note that these are “three moral principles that undergird ethics of privacy for newspeople” (Clifford et al., 2016, p. 120). Secondly, the external factors, the emotional side of the issue, and the traditional behavior of journalists under similar circumstances should be considered when finding a solution to the ethical dilemma. Harte claims that the publication aimed to promote water and swimming safety. He was hurt deeply when the audience of the ceremony started to insult him after he left the stage with the Mark Twain Award fo