Many news organizations in the United States decided to publish pictures of the dead child in their print or online editions, but they were divided over whether to show the more distressing, close-up images of the boy lying in the sand with his face partially visiblewhich attracted so much attention on social networks.

The New York Times published a less jarring image that shows a Turkish police officer carrying the child away but conceals his face. Several other newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and The Baltimore Sun, followed the same course of action.

“We debated it, but ultimately we chose to run a powerful version of this photo because it brings home the enormity of this tragedy,” said Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times.

The more jarring images appeared, though, in two major American dailies, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. The Globe and Mail, Canada’s largest national newspaper, also published a close-up image.

Kim Murphy, the assistant managing editor of The Los Angeles Times for foreign and national news, said there had been a consensus among the paper’s senior editors to show the boy as he was discovered, face down on the beach.