Posted on 09/14/2009 10:04:37 AM PDT by Graybeard58
On Aug. 14, Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua M. "Bernie" Bernard, 21, of Maine was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush in southern Afghanistan. Embedded in his unit was Associated Press photographer Julie Jacobson, who photographed him while two Marines frantically tended to his wounds. He later was taken to a field hospital, where he died on the operating table.
Before the AP transmitted the gory photo to accompany an article on Cpl. Bernard's life and death, his father twice implored the agency to withhold the image out of respect for his late son and the family. The AP refused, and the photo was published by many newspapers, often on the front page, and Web sites around the globe. Ms. Jacobson was blunt about the AP's exploitive and political motives. "To ignore a moment like that simply ... would have been wrong." The photo, she said, "makes people see what it really means to have young men die in combat." Senior Managing Editor John Daniszewski was more diplomatic, saying the photo "had news value" and was "part of the war we needed to cover and convey."
Fair enough. The public's right to know trumps all other considerations, so regardless of what happens in war zones, if the AP is aware of something, it is compelled to report it.
Or not. Last Wednesday, a British commando was killed in a spectacular firefight that freed New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell from Taliban captors in northern Afghanistan. Mr. Farrell was abducted five days earlier, but as the AP reported, "the Times kept the kidnappings quiet out of concern for the men's safety, and other media outlets, including The Associated Press, did not report the abductions following a request from the Times." The article also recalled how Times reporter David Rohde and an Afghan colleague in June had "escaped from their Taliban captors in northwestern Pakistan. They had been abducted Nov. 10 south of the Afghan capital of Kabul and were moved across the border." Yes, the AP hushed up their capture, too, again at the Times' request.
Clearly, then, the AP's "news judgment" is not based on whether an event has "news value" or is "part of the war we need to cover and convey," but on whether the news can be spun into morbid anti-war propaganda. Cpl. Bernard died defending Americans' safety and liberties, including the freedom of speech in which the AP has wrapped itself to rationalize this obscenity. Yes, war is hell, but words should have been sufficient to convey the horror and heroism of Cpl. Bernard's death. For his gallantry and sacrifice, he was owed death with dignity and his family deserved a little human decency and compassion. Instead, the AP to its dishonor exploited his death to advance its defeatist agenda.
Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.
If you want on or off this list, let me know.
The troops should accidentally lose her in the mountains over there and just go OOOOoooops~!!!
A time like that is when you put the camera down and help any way you can.
Wonder how many times AP has shown a partial birth abortion pic...
The media MAKES MONEY showing pictures, and that is the ONLY reason they do it. AP MADE MONEY off this soldier's death, and they should be sued accordingly.
It is high time the media was stopped from MAKING MONEY using pictures of private citizens.
Here’s a link to the photo of the perpetrator:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/slideshow/ALeqM5hRJyYCW_Eu9vVKBrkjtM6nQPQHhgD9AG9AMG0?index=0
I wonder how her family would feel if she were photographed in her death pose? She has no empathy.
This is what is meant by the dignity of the human person. We are all denied our human dignity when death is exploited like a snuff film. It’s voyeuristic PORN on the media’s part. Disgusting.
Another reason the mainstream media is fading in relevance from our lives...
No more do we have to depend on them for our information. It is so tainted anyway...
They are irrelevant
Our boys are fighting with feather dusters and candy bars. You wussy top brass better get off your fat asses and get some fire power to fight the towel heads. Bring back Napalm and Carpet bombing. The ratio should be 100,000 dead rag heads for every 1 of our boys. Take the handcuffs off our men in battle.
she should really be more careful publishing her Jewish name and photo on the web while there. Seriously.
Yep.
Sounds like a plan to me. “It seems she just wandered off sir. No. I don’t know why. “Journalists” do the funniest things sir. Yes, we looked all over. But we couldn’t find her. “
God bless the fallen. May there families and friends find solace.
bttt
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