In the Kingdom of the Blind Eye the Optician is King

Like many journalists Emma Jane Kirby has highlighted the plight of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to a largely indifferent European public.
Occasionally a small child being washed ashore might get attention. The overall statistics of deaths and drownings at the hands of unscrupulous criminals are not enough to shock us. It's only when you follow an individual story that makes it easier to relate. Once such tale is of The Optician of Lampedusa - someone who goes out fishing in a small boat and catches 47 human beings. The boat was designed for 10 people and already had 8 on board. 368 people died and the most shocking thing was that there were other boats that didn't stop.
By putting this story into book form Kirby has raised the stakes once again in terms of the role of the journalist as moral optician helping us to see more clearly. Thankfully the trade can still aspire to more than tabloid tunnel vision.