First, here is a great tribute to those who died on 9/11.
I've been thinking for the last day about dead bodies and whether it is ever appropriate for them to be shown on television or on newspapers.
But let me back up.
I have been thinking about 9/11, the war inIraq, Katrina and issues raised in a current discussion at Press Think. There were several comments in the discussion I want to go back and comment on but right now I just want to try to convey a thought and it is this:
Sometimes a dead body IS the story.
This seemingly gruesome topic and issue arose after FEMA issued a directive/order/request that the news media not show dead bodies from Katrina. Some were offended and insulted by the request while others pointed out how terrible it would be for someone to see a relative on a screen or newspaper before they knew they were did.
There is something to be said for both sides.
Over at PressThink, Kilgore Trout made a decent point:
I don't know anyone who is for FEMA suppressing photos of dead people, but I think the government is correct if it believes that the MSM is too immature to use the photos wisely.
Again, let me say I am NOT for the suppression of photos of the Katrina flood victims, but I certainly understand the paranoia the government must feel. Also, I have many relatives in the NO area, who thankfully got out OK, but I'm not sure how I'd feel about a photo of my Uncle Don floating in sewer water beamed all over the universe, and the subsequent hosannahs for the photographer who took the picture and won the Pulitzer (or whatever photojournalists win). All this is more complex than what journalists "want" and "need". Sorry, it needed to be said.
Jenny D, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite posters (plus, she too has switched from journalism to education) wrote this response:
I think that showing victims needs some kind of more general approach. For example, should you show victims whose families might not know they are dead, and might find out through TV? Is there a level of gruesomeness that is acceptable? On the History Channel you can see the terrible film from the first soldiers to arrive at Dachau, in which bodies are piled like cord wood. That is powerful footage, and the point was to illustrate the horror and cruelty of the Nazis. Would the point of showing victims be to demonstrated the killing power of a hurricane? Or to show that the Bush Administration sucks? Or to embarrass the mayor and governor who couldn't protect citizens? Or is to sell papers or get people to watch a cable news channel? I don't know the answer. I'm curious what people think.
And therein lies the debate.
Article comments
1 - marc
Jenny D makes a good point. It is common practice for those killed in various ways to have the nanme released to the press until the relatives are notified.
Why then, CNN in this case after filing suit, is it permissable for a news organization to show an un-named dead body via TV or on front pages of newpapers when: 1. a relative may recognize the person and 2. until seeing the image had no idea they were dead?
Secondly in CNN's case I find it strange that they adamitly refused to show falling bodies from the WTC but are clamoring, and filing suit, to show them now from New Orleans.
Is it because people leaping to their deaths from WTC would rally Americans against the Jihadist cut throats and for the President?
And bodies floating in New Orleans can be painted as a FEMA/Bush/Brown etc failure?
I can't answer with authority, but given past performance by the media I have little trust they would show any restraint or respect for the dead or their relatives.
2 - Anne
Rather disappointed; you worked for a paper yet you don't bring up the fact that for reasons strictly relative to principle the press has the right to photo and chronicle search and recovery in NO?
What they do with it is not an issue I care to discuss, really. But what's important is that no government entity can supercede our First Amendment rights. Period.
3 - Scott Butki
I thought that was assumed but thanks for making it explicitly clear.
I was more interested in not the legal issue of whether the press has the right to free speech but the ethical issue of whether it SHOULD print dead body photos.
Marc, you raise good points.
4 - Scott Butki
If you want to read one of the best damn pieces on Katrina written, read this piece by Matt Taiibi.
Warning: Adult language.
Reminds me a bit of Hunter Thompson's style.
5 - mary waller
people should not just talk they should take a stand my son deid in 9/11 and i have fought through a lot in my life but i will not just sit here i will take a stand for him.
6 - Scott Butki
What stand are you taking?
7 - copysquirl
Free speech is a basic right - that includes visuals - if the reporters and news agencies of America would stick to printing the stories at all costs we wouldn't be in the situations we're in today. Knowledge is indeed power, and if it's offensive - don't look.
8 - JeremyJessicaPendley
People who question why the bodies of 9/11 arent bieng shown just want to see those pictures for intertainment. I think we would not be showing the respect for the victoms if we displayed thier bodies for entertainment. why else would we want to see them?
9 - gabbi
all i want to say is that what happen on 9/11 was something very sad that we may never forget and the families will always remember those who now are gone and gone to be to a better place which is heaven.
my message to you is to tell you that blessed are those who believe in jesus and if you are one of the most who lost someone on that day please now that they went to a better place and to watch over their love ones. bless you all.
10 - John
Waiting until after victim's families and friends are notified (and preferably, have had time to grieve), is needed. But I do believe we need to be mature enough to see the reality of death, even the violent. It would help us to know and feel deeply what is going on in our world. There was no discussion in the article here of how U.S. culture is more afraid of death in general. In older and more mature cultures, such as E.U. countries for example, photos of the dead are much more common. Also, I fear there is too much control of the media. Especially with the current political and corporate regime.