Responsibility of the Photographer in Photojournalism

Starving Child - Kevin Carter
In the image in the link, there is the famous picture, Pulitzer Prize winning, 1994 documentation of the tragic Sudan Famine.
What I think is one of the most interesting facts about the image, was the flack that the photographer caught for being the one to stop and snap up this intense image.
The problems for viewers were stemmed from 2 things:
1. Did the boy die?
     This is part of the tension in the image. There is a VULTURE following him and he still had a MILE to go and he was already curled up in the FETAL position. Sooo, yeah, he probably died, but the fact that no one really knows for sure? Problem.
2. The fact that the photographer took the picture and left. Does that make him just as bad as the vulture? Just watching and waiting, not actually helping?
      Herein lies a problem that has afflicted photographers for some time. Ethics. What are the ethics behind all these different types of photography? War photography? Cultural Photography? Etc. And the problem is, no one knows until the rules have been broken and people think"uhmmm... that's a little too far...".
The combination of these two issues is one that can never be answered. But the umbrella question that stems, IS the photographer RESPONSIBLE for the EVENTS and ETHICS taking place in the image?

Photographers are people too.
They use the camera to deal with their problems, or just problems in general. Is it the responsibility to fix the problem? No, not necessarily. I'm sure philanthropy would say differently but that is not the topic at hand. The issue is that a picture is a puzzle piece. It is just one slice of this giant cake of life, that we can see and look at, analyze, savor, enjoy over and over. But no matter how many times we look at it or taste it, it doesn't and will never, tell us what the original cake looked or taste like, it's just a slice. And taking responsibility for that one slice, means taking on the entire cake.
Explanation...
If you are going to take a slice, you have make sure all the slices are taken too. No cake left behind.
One person cannot take on an entire cake. That is not the job of the photographer, and to take the responsibility of that one piece, is to, also, attempt to take the cake.
Where would the value of the piece go? If you could have the whole thing, this one piece right now wouldn't taste as good would it? Just like Lay's say, "betcha can't eat just one". That's the whole point. The reason why the images are powerful, as least partially, is because it is JUST ONE. Giving us all the other answers, yes the boy dies, would kind of ruin the magic. And it sounds awful, but that is just par for the course.
The ethics of the photojournalist will always be debated and trivial. But, pushing the boundaries is what makes great photography. And, it is moving and effecting. Kevin Carter committed suicide 3 months after this picture was taken. There is so much sadness in the world and he captured some of it. And he has to carry that with him. That's a lot to take on in that one slice of cake.
Sometimes the boundary of camera between the photographer and the subject is dissolved by the desire to connect to something, even subconsciously. But also, the desire to create great art. Even if it means pissing off a few people and breaking hearts.