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Media Want More Photos of Dead GIs
NewsMax ^ | May 23, 2005 | Carl Limbacher

Posted on 05/23/2005 10:21:27 AM PDT by Kaslin

American photojournalists and their editors are frustrated that they can't show more photos of U.S. soldiers dying in Iraq, saying that the nation isn't getting an accurate picture of the horrors of war.

In a comprehensive report on Saturday, the Los Angeles Times noted:

"A review of six prominent U.S. newspapers and the nation's two most popular newsmagazines during a recent six-month period found almost no pictures from the war zone of Americans killed in action."

The paper explained:

"Many photographers and editors believe they are delivering Americans an incomplete portrait of the violence that has killed 1,797 U.S. service members and their Western allies and wounded 12,516 Americans."

During World War II, the Roosevelt administration strictly prohibited news outlets from printing photos of dead U.S. soldiers because of the obvious blow it would be to American morale. And the press willingly complied.

The same sensibility largely prevailed during Korea, Vietnam and the First Gulf War.

But with many in today's media opposed to the Iraq war, some say it's time to change the rules.

"There can be horrible images, but war is horrible and we need to understand that," veteran war photographer Chris Hondros told the Times. "I think if we are going to start a war, we ought to be willing to show the consequences of that war."

Pim Van Hemmen, assistant managing editor for photography at the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., agreed, telling the Times:

"Writing in a headline that 1,500 Americans have died doesn't give you nearly the impact of showing one serviceman who is dead."

By censoring the photos of GI's as they lay dying, Van Hemmen said, "We in the news business are not doing a very good job of showing our readers what has really happened over there."

Steve Stroud, deputy director of photography at the Los Angeles Times, also thinks the public needs to see more photos of dead American soldiers.

"I feel we still aren't seeing the kind of pictures we need to see to tell the American people about this war and the costs of the war," he explained.

Michele McNally, New York Times director of photography, concurred, observing: "War kills men, women and children, and we would be remiss if we couldn't in some way show that this is what happens in war . . . It's our responsibility to bear witness to these events."

Media support for showing more American bloodshed comes despite the risk that soldiers' families may consider the display a horrible violation of privacy.

Deirdre Sargent, whose husband was deployed to Iraq, recently complained to editors of the News Tribune of Tacoma, Wash., after the paper printed a photo of a dying GI that she said left her "shaking and in tears for hours."

"It was tacky, unprofessional and completely unnecessary," Sargent said.

Executive Editor Dave Zeeck told the Times that he tried to address the complaints in an essay published on Page 2 of the main news section. He explained to readers that he believed the picture, taken by John Moore of the Associated Press, epitomized the sacrifice of the American soldier.

"We not only have the right, but the responsibility to run such photos," Zeeck told the Times.

MSNBC.com posted the same photo to their website, prompting complaints from the dying soldier's family.

"At first we thought it was a really iconic photo of the terrible violence going on in Iraq," MSNBC.com editor in chief Dean Wright told the Times.

But when it turned out the soldier could be identified, Wright took the photo down, saying, "We thought it was too horrific, because it was more personalized then."


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: California; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: agitprop; antiamerican; antiamericanism; antipatriot; bullzogby; buzzards; deathlist; ifitbleedsitleads; iraq; iraqwar; laslimes; lat; mediabias; no911photos; propaganda; proterrorist; saddamites; unamerican; waronterror; zogbyism
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To: Kaslin

I read the first 99 replies to this thread and have not seen this so I'll throw this out.

The embed program is a failure. The military commanders need to be instructed to inform all media types that they are on their own.

Our soldiers are too valuable to be used as the personal cab drivers and body guards for these ghouls who are HOPING to be attacked so they can get some good pictures. It is inevitable that one of these traitors will sell out a squad of soldiers to the terrorists for the exclusive media rights.

"Boys, it's a free country now. But it's a dangerous place. You're welcome to stay -- but you're on your own. Your presence is not welcome among our troops. You will be arrested as enemy combatants and sent to Gitmo if you are encountered by our soldiers. Now, get the hell out of my AO."


101 posted on 05/23/2005 7:44:59 PM PDT by NerdDad
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To: Yehuda

Thanks.


102 posted on 05/23/2005 8:52:22 PM PDT by mtntop3 ("He who must know before he believes will never come to full knowledge.")
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Comment #103 Removed by Moderator

To: Kaslin; Fred Nerks; USF; Bennett46; CHARLITE
MSM enemy from within ping!

How about the 3,000 AMERICANS that were murdered on 9/11/01?

The MSM can't bring themselves to show those innocent civilians who died!

104 posted on 05/24/2005 12:26:26 AM PDT by jan in Colorado (The Time Is Now!...Be informed, Be ready, Be diligent, Be armed!)
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To: jan in Colorado
The MSM can't bring themselves to show those innocent civilians who died!

Thanks for the ping Jan. Their hypocrisy will never cease to amaze me...

105 posted on 05/24/2005 5:33:01 AM PDT by USF (I see your Jihad and raise you a Crusade ™ © ®)
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To: hiredhand

I completely agree.


106 posted on 05/24/2005 1:21:37 PM PDT by Gator113
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To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub

I am willing to bet that if someone started showing the photo's of dead journalists the media would have a chenge of heart.

Remember when the reporter for the WSJ was killed, we didn't see reporters at the dead man's house asking his wife how she feels knowing that her husband was killed in an unjust war.


107 posted on 05/24/2005 1:31:56 PM PDT by stockpirate (Kerry & Democrats; supported, financed, trained, guided, revered, in favor of, Communists.)
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To: longfellow
***Bump***
 
"During World War II, the Roosevelt administration strictly prohibited news outlets from printing photos of dead U.S. soldiers.."
 
Not quite true.
 
Anyone who has studied in depth the history of U.S. photography and film in WWII would know about the first infamous photo of American war dead that was shown in Life magazine..
 
"In September 1943, the military released the first photographs of dead American soldiers. George Strock's images of corpses on Buna Beach, New Guinea, appeared in Life, the largest- circulation picture magazine. The powerful pictures shocked some readers, but a greater number approved of the policy.
 
The Washington Post argued that the pictures "can help us to understand something of what has been sacrificed for the victories we have won." Images of dead soldiers appeared regularly after that. All were as anonymous as they could be made to be. Efforts were made to crop the photos or obscure the victims' faces, name tags and unit insignia.
 
The caption to Strock's Buna Beach photo‹"Three dead Americans lie on the beach at Buna" told Life's readers that they did not need to know the names of the dead in order to appreciate what they had done."
 
http://history.acusd.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/erniepyle3.html
 
 
 
new policy released image of dead on Buna Beach, 1942 photo by George Strock/Life
 
And then films like "With the Marines at Tarawa", released in 1944, sparked outrage for it's extremely graphic 16mm color imagery of Marine dead on the beach at Betio..I could post some of those..but they are quite graphic.
 
From American dead stripped of boots and clothing after the Battle of Kasserine by Arab looters; to American dead being stuffed in body bags in France, to actual film scenes of Americans being shot while landing at New Britain, Omaha Beach and countless other scenes..even quite graphic imagery of  a US soldier unloading a .45 into a mortally wounded Japanese soldier to finish him off   (See the recent documentary "Hell in the Pacific")
 
Robert Capa took many quite graphic photos that were printed in Life, even more tragic because some were taken just a few days before the German surrender in the Battle of Liepzig, which we had to withdraw from and hand over to the Soviets:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 19 year old American soldier killed by Nazi sniper, Leipzig, April 18, 1945
   Robert Capa/Life Magazine
 
 
   M4 Sherman, surrounded by dead and dismembered crew members, knocked out by Hitler Youth
  with Panzerfaust, Leipzig, April 1945
 
 
The difference with today's subversive news media is that they want to use this sort of imagery to undermine the war effort..
 
 
 
 
 
108 posted on 05/26/2005 4:48:54 PM PDT by wolficatZ ( + ><))))*> + "..gone shark surfing..." ____\0/_____/|____)
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To: wolficatZ

You are right, and Hollywood is doing the same.


109 posted on 05/26/2005 11:27:30 PM PDT by longfellow (Bill Maher, the 21st hijacker.)
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