Friday, September 09, 2005

Coverage or Cover-up?

US Agency blocks photos of N.O. dead. Controversial subject, but worthy of discussion.

An agency [FEMA] 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.

OK, that's a point well-made, especially about the space in the boats, but isn't it the job of the press to create an accurate picture of events that are happening?

...and then there's the censorship/propaganda aspect of doing that, illustrated by this statement in the article: "The Bush administration also has prevented the news media from photographing flag-draped caskets of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, which has sparked criticism that the government is trying to block images that put the war in a bad light."

I would personally rather have the "red-pill" version of things, no matter how bitter it is.

I found this German photojournalist site (through SOMEONE'S blog, can't even remember which one) that is really QUITE graphic! The journalists were definitely right down in the heart of things, and pulled no punches for the sake of anything. It's a little confusing here and there navigating all the slides especially since the text is German (you can translate the site through Babelfish, which will create a few funny translations, but the photos are un-funny enough to balance that out unfortunately)

Here is one place to start which has the background info on the photographer's activities, and this page presents a navigation menu of most of the slide shows. Brace yourself though, this is a bit more graphic than some of the stuff on CNN.
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