An image of a drowned toddler washed up on the beach in one of Turkey’s prime tourist resorts swept across social media after at least 12 Syrian refugees died trying to reach the Greek island of Kos.

Rightly or wrongly, it has long been the tradition of news media companies, including this one, to not publish some of the most disturbing photographs that emanate from war zones, areas of conflict and man-made or natural disasters.