Quote:
Originally posted by bilmore
CNN, for the "news value", airs snuff films of US soldiers being killed on AQ's request . . .
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It's interesting to me that there is such a strong taboo in this country on showing pictures of dead and maimed casualties of war. This is not a new thing -- John Dower's book,
War Without Mercy, describes how the media self-censored such stuff in WWII. It's not that you never see bodies, but they usually are displayed only in apparent repose. In other countries, the publication of such more graphic pictures is routine.
If I recall correctly -- frankly, my memory is a little shaky on this one -- there were some conservatives who were upset that more people didn't see pictures of people falling on 9/11, or the private security guards killed in Fallujah and strung up on the bridge there.
Is the role of the media to be a cheerleader during wartime, or is it to provide information? Seeing as how we live in a democracy, I would have thought the former.
