Jordan Subban is a lot of things. He's a brother, a son, a hockey player.
And yes, a black man.
But that last point shouldn't be as important, or at least not as important as one photographer recently made it out to be.
In the caption of a photograph which ran in both the The Vancouver Sun and The Province, the as yet unnamed photographer referred to Subban as the "dark guy in the middle".
The full caption reads, "Vancouver Canucks celebrate goal by Jordan Subban (dark guy in the middle) against San Jose Sharks in NHL preseason game at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, B.C., on September 23, 2014."
There has been widespread outrage as the story continues to gain traction, which has led to both papers offering apologies to Subban and to readers.
The Province regrets an insensitive description of Canuck Jordan Subban in a photo caption on our website last night. 1/2
— The Province (@theprovince) September 24, 2014
We apologize to Subban, the Canucks and their fans for any offence. We are examining our process to ensure it can never happen again. 2/2 — The Province (@theprovince) September 24, 2014
Last night we ran a photo caption that should never have been written, let alone run online. We apologize to @jordansubban. (1/2)
— The Vancouver Sun (@VancouverSun) September 24, 2014
The Sun is looking into this so we can make sure it doesn't happen again. (2/2) — The Vancouver Sun (@VancouverSun) September 24, 2014
The Deputy Digital Editor of The Vancouver Sun, Gillian Burnett, explained that the caption was written by a photographer and that they are "looking into this further".
@GregBallochST That cutline, written by a photog, should NEVER have been written, let alone made it online. Egregious error that we regret.
— Gillian Burnett (@gillianburnett) September 24, 2014
@GregBallochST Outrage is shared. We will be looking into this further. Thanks for pointing it out. — Gillian Burnett (@gillianburnett) September 24, 2014
The Editor-In-Chief of both papers, Harold Munro, explained that photographers often use shorthand to ensure that the staffers to whom they are filing their photos know who or what to focus on.
"Writing in information will help the person on the other end identify who's in the photo," he explained via BuzzFeed News. "Usually you'd identify the players by their jersey numbers, in this case, you can't see the jersey number."
No action has yet been taken.
"I'm still investigating, I need to hear from all the people involved before making any decisions," said Munro. "I apologized directly to the hockey team and player Jordan Subban for any embarrassment. I feel terrible about this."
