Shawn Reuss posed for a portrait in the Star's photo studio last year.

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

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Last Sunday's Metro page photo of cancer survivor Shawn Reuss stirred the emotions of other cancer survivors who called to share their upset with me.

Letters to the editor appeared in Thursday's paper, some applauding Reuss' courage, others taking the Star to task for publishing a photo that they called crude, degrading and insulting.

I received a half-dozen calls from cancer survivors who said the Star had shown an image that other survivors had to answer to, and explain their own experience.

Reuss' story and photo ran on the day of the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure at Reid Park. Reuss was one of 800 breast cancer survivors walking and running in the race, which drew 13,000 people this year.

Photographer Mamta Popat said she was at Reuss' home last year looking at photos Reuss' daughter had taken as her mother battled cancer, and getting to know Reuss before taking her photo for the story that would run months later. Popat also Googled breast cancer images and found that they were generally very medical. She decided to try for a different kind of photo, one that was more like art.

She told Reuss what she had in mind. "I want you to know that more than 200,000 people will see this. Are you comfortable?'' Popat asked Reuss. Popat also explained that the photo shoot could take three hours in the Star's studio and that it was possible editors would decide not to publish the photo.

That was last year.

Reuss did not know then if the cancer drugs would work. She only received news that she was cancer-free the Friday before the photo and story appeared.

As race day approached, editors talked and talked about the photo. "Any time you have a photo of a sensitive nature you need to have a discussion,'' said Managing Editor Teri Hayt. For the photo to be published, it needed to be in context.

Photo editor Rick Wiley said he felt the appropriate context was the Komen race and that the photo would run on the day of the event.

The photo "showed Shawn's defiance in the face of cancer," he said. "Even though the cancer had taken part of her body, she made it through and she was going to live her life.''

A similar discussion last week led to the opposite conclusion, and photos that Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui sent to NBC were not published.

Those photos, which NBC released to other media Wednesday, showed Cho pointing a gun at the camera and with other weapons, and "were very disturbing,'' Hayt said.

"This community is still recovering from the UA nurses' shooting'' in 2002, she said. Failing UA nursing student and Gulf War veteran Robert Flores, 40, killed three instructors before fatally shooting himself.

Those photos "did not help tell the story. You knew what was in his head — we didn't need to show the posturing.''

When Jim Rowley became vice president of circulation in November, readers asked that the Star be made available in the White Mountains. The service had been discontinued in 2005 due to transportation issues and costs.

Rowley e-mailed: "We've been testing White Mountains delivery since April 1 and feel confident that we can continue delivery into the future, but at a higher price to cover the high transportation costs.'' That higher cost is $1 daily and $2.50 on Sunday to pay for the drivers and fuel to get the Star to the mountains, about 150 miles away. The new White Mountains prices match what the Star charges in the resort areas of Sonora, Mexico — Rocky Point and San Carlos.

Readers are invited to sit in on the news meetings when the next day's stories are discussed. Joining editors last week were Charlie MacCabe and his political science students from Fenster School, and college students Camille Jackson, Jeff Larson, Steven M. Nelson and Garrett Schneider.