Posted on 09/06/2005 10:29:23 PM PDT by HAL9000
NEW ORLEANS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. government agency leading the rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina said on Tuesday it does not want the news media to take photographs of the dead as they are recovered from the flooded New Orleans area.The Federal Emergency Management Agency, heavily criticized for its slow response to the devastation caused by the hurricane, rejected requests from journalists to accompany rescue boats as they went out to search for storm victims.
An agency 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.
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.
The White House is under fire for its handling of the relief effort, which many officials have charged was slow and bureacratic, contributing to the death and mayhem in New Orleans after the storm struck on Aug. 29.
When was the FOIA? I remember downloading them from the Afghanistan conflict before we ever went into Iraq.
Nowhere does it say the government is ordering the media to stop taking pictures of the dead. That's because they can't, both legally and practically. My guess is that you know this, too, so try reading the article a little more thoroughly next time. The quote says the government "requests" they not take the photos.
Now, tell me again about stupidity and bad names.
ogrish has some pics, as well as tsunami pics.
The bloated semi-human faces you'll see are not anything you want to see. I can take it, but very few can.
The BBC TV news last night said the new troops in New Orleans were from Fort Bragg, Texas.
There is an excellent article on Opinion Journal, tonight, that does just that, criticizes Blanco and Nagin.
We actually should see pics of the dead. And the 9/11 splattered bodies.
We're adults, we need to not be so damn desensitized by the media. ogrish usually provides as much as they can, but it's pretty rare to get major disaster-area footage.
When you love someone, there is always something about what remains that you will recognize.
So why are they even making a statement about it?
It's as likely to identify flood drowning victims as it is to identify the cow of the steak you ate.
Basically, it's totally turned into something that's outreagously horrible, but unrecognizable.
Sorry guys, but with all due respect, I call this a very bad move on the part of the US Government - and for two main reasons really.
Number 1 - How do you stop someone from taking photos? Many have already been taken - what kind of restrictive action will be taken against anyone who publishes them?
Number 2 - I live and work in on of the countries affected by the earthquake and tsunamis and am very concerned how this can be manipulated and how it will play out in the local media here.
Where is the similar "respect" for the victims of the tsunami and how many of you saw the photos of the dead strewn along the beaches in Thailand?
In Thailand, jewelry was used in a lot of cases to ID the bodies. My point is unless they are printing detailed close-ups of identifying features in the news, they are not going to be identified this way.
Think of all the 9/11 stuff we never got to see.
A lot of it simply makes it easier to forget and sanitize. People need to see atrocities. ALL the details.
A natural disaster's a little more refined, but I still say show all of it.
Why not show it all? The government shouldn't say what's ok and what's not.
I think 40,000 dead from this tragedy is a conservative figure.
Attempting a linkage, nah, not her.
Greta was strutting her stuff tonight looking like a deer in the headlights. She was wearing a NOPD jacket, said some LEO had bestowed it to protect her against the evening chill. Likely got PO'ed when he didn't give her a sidearm to complete the outfit.
My guess is that it's because they would prefer pics not be taken.
How have you managed to get this far in life without the ability to see the difference between a request and a command?
Privately, I would not want photos of my loved ones splashed in bloated splendar across the pages of the Washington Post or the internet.
Publicly, the more the merrier. Show the bodies falling out the towers. Show the bodies floating down Canal street, the cops looting Wal-Mart and the dead elderly folks in their wheelchairs.
And those photos will keep being published until the MSM is convinced that the locals truly are to blame for this f***-up. Then the photos will stop.
Actually, no. I am not for the media publication of the pics at all. But I do wonder about a general discouragement of any truthful deathtolls. As I remember, MS seemed to sit on 59 or so for a few days, after it became totally apparent that it must be much higher, maybe magnitudes higher. Nagin recently confirmed that 10, 000 won't really surprise him, and my wife heard 09/06 that 80,000 body bags had been ordered, didn't hear who. I'm gonna go google bodybags.
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