Re: [Leica] photos of war dead

[grduprey@rockwellcollins.com]

Actually, my personal opinion of the press covering the dead bodies being
flown in, is that this is a private time for the families which should be
respected by the press and the nation.  The actual funeral and burial rites
have been and are covered by the local press which is as it should be.
I've already heard that 16 soldiers were killed in a helicopter or whatever
attack, I do not need to interfere with the families grieving by seeing
their loved ones body being displayed on the evening news.

Gene



                                                                                                                                             
                      "Emanuel Lowi"                                                                                                         
                      <mano@vif.com>                      To:       leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us                                        
                      Sent by:                            cc:                                                                                
                      owner-leica-users@mejac.palo        Subject:  [Leica] photos of war dead                                               
                      -alto.ca.us                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                             
                      11/15/2003 04:20 PM                                                                                                    
                      Please respond to                                                                                                      
                      leica-users                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                             




It is rather common for governments to restrict press freedoms in time of
war. The
theory behind this -- obviously -- is that the effort towards victory takes
precedence over the public's right to get all the gory details in the heat
of the
moment. There's a hierarchy of needs or national interests at work, and it
was ever
thus. In the present case, the US public is getting news of deaths in Iraq.
It is
debatable whether they also NEED to see photos of the dead service-people
being
buried, as those images are likely to eventually undermine the efforts of
those still
on the battlefield. Those of you who are against this war, I suspect, are
hoping for
exactly that effect. But you'll need to change your constitution (I think)
to have
ultimate press freedoms taking precedence over the prosecution of this or
other wars.
It took some years of the Vietnam war before the US media felt the massive
home-grown
opposition to that conflict and started publishing pictures that eventually
undermined the war effort -- and that may have been a good thing. It would
be
inappropriate for the press to make things work the other way 'round.

Emanuel Lowi
Montreal
- --
To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html



- --
To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html