Photography Banned at World Trade Center Site; Last Remnant of Tower's Facade Brought Down

TBO ^ | Sep 26, 2001 | Verena Dobnik

[Publius6961]

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani issued the order Tuesday because the site is a crime scene, according to a statement from his office. No one was available early Wednesday to explain why the order wasn't issued earlier.
Officer Michael DiFrancisco, standing guard at a barricade, said the ban was also "out of respect for the families and all those concerned."

Now this is disturbing.
Sounds arbitrary and capricious and sets a curious precedent. Aside from that, the "out of respect for the families and all those concerned is a stretch".
It's PC in it's ugliest form during an event that concerns family... every American citizen.

"All those concerned" includes all of us, whether acknowledged or not.
This notion that nanny government has the rights of an individual is really disturbing.

[riley1992]

I agree. If that were truly the case, the order would have been enacted from the beginning.

[B4Ranch]

They probably don't want people taking pictures of workers handling body parts etc.

[riley1992]

Geez. I never thought about that. Thanks.

[jwa3]

I hear Spanish language media is showing pictures. Its gruesome. Arms, legs, heads etc. BUT...we should show the world what happened and how horrible it is. Shame the terrorists and legitimate our right to respond with FORCE!

[texlok]

Had he came out and said "we are starting to find bodies and/or parts of bodies in large numbers, and out of respect for the families we ask that you not take pictures" that would be one thing. But this is another.

[OldFriend]

Just Rudy being Rudy. We see all sides of him, the heroic and the autocratic.

[DCPatriot]

Another example of "liberties taken...with a stroke of a pen".

[Movemout]

"Just Rudy being Rudy. We see all sides of him, the heroic and the autocratic"

I think you have captured the essence of the order.

[Timesink]

The reason they're banning photography now is because they're finally reaching areas that have large numbers of bodies ... and body parts. Before it was all just I-beams and concrete; now it's fingers.

Also, they're now finding pieces of airplane fuselage and the like. If it's truly a war, why risk letting the enemy see something useful on TV?

[MosesKnows]

signs warning that all cameras and video equipment were forbidden

This warning serves to assure an ample supply of photographs made all the more valuable by the risk and the rarity.

[jacquej]

I wonder who they were looking for, and what kind of threat they were worried about?

I read a book many years back about how easy it would be to totally destroy NY City by taking out the bridges and tunnels, along with other things...

Trapped on that isalnd, millions of people, no food, no heat, etc...

Maybe we are going to have to understand what we are up against. They use the very freedom we treasure against us.

[Publius6961]

They probably don't want people taking pictures of workers handling body parts etc.

That is a valid reason?
Are we a nation of children? Does the least common denominator apply?

Do all aircraft disaster include such restrictions? I can undertand "interfering with an investigation" but it is a real stretch here.
"Sanitizing" the extent of the Mass Murder for the rest of us is so PC. And so counterproductive!

[Wm Bach]

There should be a small pool of photographers allowed on the scene, just for historical purposes if for nothing else, just as the military has photographers along in battle.

It would be a gross outrage to have the rotting, maggot infested hamburger of former loved ones splayed across the front pages of National Inquirer, but for posterity, there needs to be some record, just as there are films of the victims left in holocaust's evil wake.

[Publius6961]

BUMP!

[tet68]

"Life is risky," Giuliani said Tuesday. "You can decide to live your life afraid of that happening, or you can decide to live your life the way Americans live their lives, which is unafraid."

Challenge and adversity bring out the best in some people!

[Movemout]

That seems to be a reasonable alternative to me. I'm sure some editor will think of the same solution.