December 30, 2014

"Is it possible for you not to show a picture of the dead? Please do not show a picture of a dead body.”

"That’s crazy."

"... the atmosphere was very different after the footage of a dead body was shown. Families became hysterical...."

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Journalists world wide are all the same genius of pond scum.

If it bleeds it leads. No consideration of the families in the rush to get the scoop. Thrusting mikes in front of widows looking for comments...

Skeptical Voter said...

Sarge you are insulting pond scum.

Wince said...

If you had bothered to get your Masters in Journalism you'd know there there is a "bloated corpse" exception to the "no dead body" rule.

JSD said...

There’s news then there’s tabloid. Images of dead bodies can be desensitizing. Tabloids in Mexico are incredibly graphic and really depressing. When I ask Mexicans, why tabloids publish these images everyday? They just shrug; it was just that person’s day to die. They possess a strange fatalism about life and death. I also think it enables some really evil behavior. Criminals don’t just murder people, they commit unspeakable acts. Then the full graphic color images are on the news the next day. It’s not healthy.

Larry J said...

"We got the bubble headed
Bleached blonde
Comes on at five
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash
With a gleam in her eye
It's interesting when people die
Give us dirty laundry"

Don Henley, "Dirty Laundry"

madAsHell said...

Did they have footage of a dead male as well?....but chose to run with the female in the racy black panties?

traditionalguy said...

Reality therapy. Big deal. It never hurts anybody. People can deal with the truth. The unknown is a no closure torture.

Richard Dolan said...

Reading this, I was thinking back to some of the iconic photos of the recent past -- the little girl running naked from a napalm bomb hitting her village, say, or the execution of a VC soldier by a shot to the head during the Vietnam War. And I've always thought that executions should be public -- it's best that awful but perhaps necessary things done in our name not be hidden away.

This is different in some respects. But only some. Modern conveniences have their cost, and this is one of them. Being reminded, even graphically, of that reality is not all bad.

jimbino said...

Much nicer would be the mostly naked image of a human, bleeding from a sword wound on the side, hanging on a cross.

Richard Dolan said...

jimbino: It was a spear, not a sword.

n.n said...

Yes, in an abortion clinic, where privacy is paramount; the sewage is unfiltered; and humanitarian policy is degenerate; but not on public display.

JAORE said...

n.n. you make a point. I remember, years ago, Phil Donahue asking a supporter of the death penalty if he agreed the horror of that act should be shown on television. Phil's point is we would be horrified at the sight. I always thought the guy should have responded, sure, if we could show a late-term abortion in a split screen.

Leon said...

I was thinking about this in bed last night. The families made a deliberate choice to be there. Where they were surrounded by a room of huge screens. That were deliberately tuned to the very latest news. Which they had to know were broadcasting a live feed.

Then when they got what they chose, got mad at the people who have it to them.

Should live streams be broadcast? Maybe but if not then you have an edit decision in which you are holding back something.... seen as some as keeping grieving families in the dark.