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mburbank · #1

From Reuters

New Orleans - The US government agency leading the rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina said on Tuesday it does not want the news media to take photographs of the dead as they are recovered from the flooded New Orleans area.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, heavily criticized for its slow response to the devastation caused by the hurricane, rejected requests from journalists to accompany rescue boats as they went out to search for storm victims.

An agency spokeswoman said space was needed on the rescue boats and that "the recovery of the victims is being treated with dignity and the utmost respect."

"We have requested that no photographs of the deceased be made by the media," the spokeswoman said in an e-mailed response to a Reuters inquiry.

KevinTheOmnivore · #2

This isn't really like the war issue though, is it? I mean, I could understand why somone opposed to the war would want the images of caskets of fallen soldiers to be seen, but what would be the point in seeing corpses in New Orleans?

The public already thinks this was a botched job, and unlike Iraq, the country seems to be pretty engaged in it all. Why show the bodies?

mburbank · #3

Why include photographs in journalism at all? We could replace all unpleasant photos of things that actually happen like war, famine, disease and violence with Huge Eyed Sad Faced Kitties. That would be symbollic of tragedy, but far less depressing.

It wouldn't make us forget bad things because we already know all about them, but it might take the sting out of them and let us get on with our lives the way a fresh coat of paint makes a junky used car seem brand new or blinders make a cart horse more focused on the task at hand.

The bodies in the streets are the cost of the ever deepening rift between the rich and poor in this country. It's unpleasant and shameful and horrible and our national attention span is short. We need our damn noses rubbed in the ugliness of it until we understand that the whole point of government in a civilized society is to take care of each other. We need it the way we needed pictures of Auschwitz and Black kids getting attacked by police with dogs and fire hoses. We need it because it's a National shame and if we don't drink it deep we'll forget about it soon enough and let it get swept under the rug by a bunch pof greed heads who's idea of a national priority is getting rid of inheritance taxes.

KevinTheOmnivore · #4

Quote:

Originally Posted by mburbank

Why include photographs in journalism at all? We could replace all unpleasant photos of things that actually happen like war, famine, disease and violence with Huge Eyed Sad Faced Kitties. That would be symbollic of tragedy, but far less depressing.

I think this is a fantastic idea.

Quote:

The bodies in the streets are the cost of the ever deepening rift between the rich and poor in this country. It's unpleasant and shameful and horrible and our national attention span is short. We need our damn noses rubbed in the ugliness of it until we understand that the whole point of government in a civilized society is to take care of each other. We need it the way we needed pictures of Auschwitz and Black kids getting attacked by police with dogs and fire hoses. We need it because it's a National shame and if we don't drink it deep we'll forget about it soon enough and let it get swept under the rug by a bunch pof greed heads who's idea of a national priority is getting rid of inheritance taxes.

In your opinion, this is what we need. I'm thinking the friends and family members of those deceased individuals might disagree with you.

kellychaos · #5

I could always change the channel or not read the newspaper and foil your dastardly plan, Max Burbank.

Zebra 3 · #6

CNN has already shown corpses from New Orleans.

mburbank · #7

Friends and family members will almost certainly have a wide array of desires. Some of them might even be really angry with a federal government that abandoned them long before the Hurricane struck. If my Grandmother had drowned in a poorly funded nursing home three days after the hurricane stopped, I'd want the whole world to experience as much of my horror as possible, so that maybe, maybe we might wake up as a society and try to take care of our most vulnerable citizens instead of slowly channeling the nations wealth to it's richest %1.

Others might well feel differently.

The function of a free press ought to be to make an attempt to provide people with an unvarnished look at the truth. This is of course, impossible, and all too often no attempt is made. For those who do not want to look (and I don't blame anyone for feeling this way, I myself don't want to) the nations free press is ready every with several heartlifting photos of rescued pets and people being hugged by the President. If it were my dog, cat or child, I would personally feel violated. I'm being flip about the pets. I'm not being flip about the child. In bioth cases I would nto dispute the right of a free press to photograph and display the incident.

The dead in the street are members of the American family, and many of them are dead because we as a people failed them. We left them too poor to run, we elected people at all levels of government who are incompetent, greedy and arrogant, we did not protest loudly enough when cronyism replaced competence in their appointments and we let fear make us complacent. None of these things created Katrina. All of these things left the citizens as vulnerable as a soldier in Iraq without body armor. We are all responsible. It think it does the dead a disservice to look away.

KevinTheOmnivore · #8

Fair enough, I just don't think the prez is trying to cover his ass by asking that pictures not be taken. Like i said, I think that outrage is already there due to what we have already seen.

mburbank · #9

I don't think the President is asking for or covering anything. I think Karl Rove is looking for a figurative helicopter dropped sandbag to plug the breech in the Presient ass levee.

"Cause THAT's the levee no one anticpated Katrina breeching.

Abcdxxxx · #10

Oprah showed decompossing bodies, people taken to the makeshift morgue to die in peace, and corpses floating through the water. I'd say the damage is pretty much done.

ziggytrix · #11

Read my lips, Oprah will PAY.

mburbank · #12

Bpy, member tht time ol' W was runnin' for office when he kissed Oprah? Bet that won't happen again.

kellychaos · #13

Given the open press that you've discussed, Max, how do you then distinguish between "the first amendment rights of the people" and pure sensationalism as a means to sell? Is sensationalism a misnomer for the squeamish and (ahem) proper in high society? What are the definitions and distinctions? Discuss.