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09/07/2005 04:40:08 AM · #1
No Photographing the Dead

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 6 (Reuters) - The Federal Emergency Management Agency said on Tuesday that it did not want news photographers to take pictures of the dead as they were recovered in New Orleans.

FEMA rejected requests from journalists to accompany rescue boats.

An agency spokeswoman said that "the recovery of the victims is being treated with dignity and the utmost respect."



09/07/2005 04:45:43 AM · #2


Or not, and they don't want pics of it.

Man I sometimes hate being a susoicious cynic.
09/07/2005 04:56:17 AM · #3
Originally posted by BlackDot:



Or not, and they don't want pics of it.

Man I sometimes hate being a susoicious cynic.


I'm right there with you on this one. There is no dignity or respect in being left to rot for 10 days.
09/07/2005 04:56:39 AM · #4
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Message edited by author 2005-09-07 04:56:50.
09/07/2005 04:56:45 AM · #5
no reason why there should be photos of corpses that have been in the water for a week. i can't imagine anyone wanting to see that.

09/07/2005 05:01:00 AM · #6
No, I guess no-one would, or rather, I Hope no-one would. But to still be Allowed to, makes the difference to me.
09/07/2005 05:06:27 AM · #7
Originally posted by sher9204:

no reason why there should be photos of corpses that have been in the water for a week. i can't imagine anyone wanting to see that.


It never happened if there is no evidence of it. I don't like images of the dead either, but there must be a record of this or I'm afraid many of these people will just be pushed up in the fill as their houses are bulldozed.

You have to understand that beyond dignity and respect a lot of people have a lot to lose here if this nation sees that the worst that has been seen in the last 10 days was only the tip of the iceberg. I think it has a lot more to do with officials protecting their asses at this point then dignity and respect.



Message edited by author 2005-09-07 05:08:03.
09/07/2005 05:11:28 AM · #8
Originally posted by sher9204:

no reason why there should be photos of corpses that have been in the water for a week. i can't imagine anyone wanting to see that.


hmm: maybe don't want to see, and perhaps not so relevant here, but in some cases we should see the dead bodies so that we understand the consequences of our actions.
09/07/2005 05:20:18 AM · #9
Just thinking back to the most horiffic events in our modern history, WWII and Nazi death camps.
I have been (and still am) invovlved with reconstructing a part of 3d Berlin right before WWII. I have read books by Goering, Hess, Speer, Goebbels. Watched Russian, American and German propoganda videos, interviews with survivors, families of survivors, and experts from geologists and meteoroligsts to psycologists. I remained distanced and largely unaffected.

Then late one night, on discovery channel, there was a documentary. The meat of it was photographs from the death camps. I cried through it, I cry when I think of the images I saw. It cut me to the bone. If only they had only shown images of the dead.

If not for those harrowing images, I would still be, unaffected.

I don't agree with images of the dead on cnn. I fully agree with being allowed to document.

Edit:a) I hope that saying Nazi doesn't get this moved to Rant.
b) Let's see if Goldmann's law really works!

Message edited by author 2005-09-07 05:21:45.
09/07/2005 05:20:55 AM · #10
Originally posted by nsbca7:

I think it has a lot more to do with officials protecting their asses at this point then dignity and respect.

this is the bottomline, here, and the reality is that it has a lot less to do with fema and the cleanup, but more to do with the local leaders who failed to act before the storm...
09/07/2005 05:24:42 AM · #11
Originally posted by skiprow:


this is the bottomline, here, and the reality is that it has a lot less to do with fema and the cleanup, but more to do with the local leaders who failed to act before the storm...


Before, during, after... Local, state, Federal...

Message edited by author 2005-09-07 05:51:28.
09/07/2005 07:08:51 AM · #12
Originally posted by legalbeagle:

Originally posted by sher9204:

no reason why there should be photos of corpses that have been in the water for a week. i can't imagine anyone wanting to see that.


hmm: maybe don't want to see, and perhaps not so relevant here, but in some cases we should see the dead bodies so that we understand the consequences of our actions.


or the consequences of a huge hurricane, depending on your political leanings
09/07/2005 07:15:14 AM · #13
Originally posted by legalbeagle:

Originally posted by sher9204:

no reason why there should be photos of corpses that have been in the water for a week. i can't imagine anyone wanting to see that.


hmm: maybe don't want to see, and perhaps not so relevant here, but in some cases we should see the dead bodies so that we understand the consequences of our actions.


I agree, People need to see the full extent of this devestation to full understand it. Though I don't think however that the media should go crazy and show it over and over and over. Just throw one in every now and again to shock people into the reality of it all. Maybe not close ups out of respect for the dead and their families though.
09/07/2005 07:19:09 AM · #14
I agree with the position that if it is not documented, it basically did not happen. There is no way that they shoudl censor the news photogs.
Of course the media are to blame in some respects for this attitude, with the lack of scruples as to what they wil air.
09/07/2005 07:23:12 AM · #15
Originally posted by kirbic:


Of course the media are to blame in some respects for this attitude, with the lack of scruples as to what they wil air.


I am not so sure. There are a lot of pictures taken of dead people that never get into the media because they are too gruesome. We tend to be insulated against these sights by the scruples of the media and their supervising bodies. Personally, I think that fewer scruples should be employed. Particularly when the deaths are the result of human decisions (such as Iraq, where the reality of 2,000 dead soldiers or 12,000 maimed soldiers or 100,000 Iraqi dead is concealed behind a number).
09/07/2005 07:29:40 AM · #16
I cannot accept any argument FOR allowing pictures of the dead (from Katrina, or any other catastrophy, including war) to be published or posted...these people have been through enough trauma already. Seeing their dead children or parents or other loved ones on TV or in the paper will serve no purpose but to make them relive the trauma yet again, and to satisfy the morbid curiosity of people who don't have scruples of their own. Let the dead rest in peace, and let the living gather up what little remains of their sanity and lives to begin moving forward.

The victims, and most especially the children, will relive the horror over and over again in their own minds. I don't think journalists need to add to that.
09/07/2005 07:41:10 AM · #17
Originally posted by nsbca7:

Originally posted by sher9204:

no reason why there should be photos of corpses that have been in the water for a week. i can't imagine anyone wanting to see that.


It never happened if there is no evidence of it. I don't like images of the dead either, but there must be a record of this or I'm afraid many of these people will just be pushed up in the fill as their houses are bulldozed.

You have to understand that beyond dignity and respect a lot of people have a lot to lose here if this nation sees that the worst that has been seen in the last 10 days was only the tip of the iceberg. I think it has a lot more to do with officials protecting their asses at this point then dignity and respect.


I tend to agree with you...
09/07/2005 07:59:10 AM · #18
The Bush administration doesn't allow pictures of coffins returning from Iraq with US soldiers. There are no faces to be recognized, so there is no reason other than politics and media control for this policy. The corpses of bodies down in the NOLA region would most likely be unrecognizable as well after floating in water for a week with high temperatures. They are trying to minimize the political fallout.
09/07/2005 11:18:25 AM · #19
Police violence against journalists in New Orleans in Katrina aftermath

Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today about police violence against journalists covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, especially about the attacks on reporters and photographers that took place on 1 September.

“We understand that the security forces are overwhelmed and we are aware of the great tension and the difficult conditions under which they are having to work in areas hit by Katrina, but it is very worrying that this is reflected in violence against journalists,” the press freedom organisation said.

“We believe that is essential that news coverage should be completely free and unobstructed in such a serious situation,” Reporters Without Borders added.

Reporter Tim Harper and photographer Lucas Oleniuk of the Canadian Toronto Star daily were the victims of police violence while covering a clash between police and looters. The police threatened them several times at gunpoint and, when they realised Oleniuk had photographed them hitting looters, they hurled him to the ground, grabbed his two cameras and removed memory cards containing around 350 pictures. His press card was also torn from him. When he asked for his pictures back, the police insulted him and threatened to hit him.

Harper said in a report about the police violence in the Toronto Star that, given the situation in New Orleans, there was not doubt that the police saw journalists as an obstacle to their efforts to regain control of the city.

A second incident involved Gordon Russell of the New Orleans-based Times-Picayune daily as he was covering a shoot-out between police and local residents near the convention centre where hurricane victims were awaiting evacuation. The police detained Russell and smashed all of his equipment on the ground. Russell was forced to flee to avoid further violence and reportedly left the city the same day.

Reporters Without Borders
09/07/2005 11:26:36 AM · #20
Hey folks, I would like to point out that we are in AMERICA! This is supposed to be the central point of freedom in the world. But since the patriot act, and the US gastopo stopping photographers from taking pictures of buildings, the country has drastically changed. It makes me sad, but I truly believe that our blessed democracy is falling apart. We are losing it. These photos, this event is bigger than the family of one survivor, or ten thousand dead. Those photos would be to remind people of the turbulant nature of our earth, and the dramatic and catastrophic effects that this planet can bring us if we ignore it. For future generations. I say take the pictures. And then take pictures of the cops that try to stop you.

drake
09/07/2005 11:35:05 AM · #21
I'm torn between both sides.

On one hand I believe it should be documented for historical value and that hopefully through the images people will re-evaluate the things necessary so that something like this does not happen again. On the other hand I would hate for images of dead bodies to become commonplace in the media and that public reaction becomes desensitized to it. The moment Ma and Pa Smith with little Smith Junior continues to eat their frozen TV dinner while viewing dead bodies on CNN is gonna be a sad day for humanity.
09/07/2005 11:36:06 AM · #22
Originally posted by fstopopen:

Hey folks, I would like to point out that we are in AMERICA! This is supposed to be the central point of freedom in the world. But since the patriot act, and the US gastopo stopping photographers from taking pictures of buildings, the country has drastically changed. It makes me sad, but I truly believe that our blessed democracy is falling apart. We are losing it. These photos, this event is bigger than the family of one survivor, or ten thousand dead. Those photos would be to remind people of the turbulant nature of our earth, and the dramatic and catastrophic effects that this planet can bring us if we ignore it. For future generations. I say take the pictures. And then take pictures of the cops that try to stop you.

drake


I agree.
09/07/2005 11:36:13 AM · #23
Originally posted by Olyuzi:

The Bush administration doesn't allow pictures of coffins returning from Iraq with US soldiers. There are no faces to be recognized, so there is no reason other than politics and media control for this policy. The corpses of bodies down in the NOLA region would most likely be unrecognizable as well after floating in water for a week with high temperatures. They are trying to minimize the political fallout.


I believe this rule was in place before Bush took office? Not that it is relevent to this topic though.
09/07/2005 11:40:10 AM · #24
Originally posted by louddog:

Originally posted by Olyuzi:

The Bush administration doesn't allow pictures of coffins returning from Iraq with US soldiers. There are no faces to be recognized, so there is no reason other than politics and media control for this policy. The corpses of bodies down in the NOLA region would most likely be unrecognizable as well after floating in water for a week with high temperatures. They are trying to minimize the political fallout.


I believe this rule was in place before Bush took office?


No, it was never. When the dead troops came back from Somolia the coffins were shown coming off the plane. I guess when a change such as has occured takes place many people grow so used to it that they figure it has always been that way.
09/07/2005 11:41:03 AM · #25
Photos of the dead already have been taken and will be taken to document the disaster. The problem is, if you allow all the press to follow the crews around retriving bodys it's going to be a swarm of gore hunters, not to mention they get in the way.

I say let them rest in peace.

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