FEMA Blocks Photos of New Orleans Dead — Apparently the First Amendment of the US Constitution is rescinded by decree. The fact is they do no want the public to witness the horror of their botched job. Where is the outrage? The bloggers will have to do it.
NEW YORK Forced to defend what some critics consider its slow and botched response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said on Tuesday it does not want the news media to take photographs of the dead as they are recovered from New Orleans.
FEMA, which is leading the rescue efforts, rejected requests from journalists to accompany rescue boats as they went out to search for storm victims, Reuters reported Tuesday.
It’s just like not letting us see the bodies come off the jets from Iraq. Bush stop the media from filming so we didn’t have to see the “sad” part of war.
We will get to a point where the media is affraid or won’t say anything against the government, or the media company that owns them.
Is this China?
The main reason for this would be to prevent someone from seeing their dead family member on the TV before they are properly notified and/or the body is cleaned up. I frankly find that pretty reasonable I certainly wouldn’t want the first place I found out my relative was dead to be on National TV. Particularly considering the condition that most of the bodies wll be in after several days in the water in the climate that New Orlean’s has. It won’t be pretty to say the least.
Why is the press capitulating to this crap? Why did they allow “free speech zones”? Why did they allow the limitations in the Gulf? Why won’t they get some backbone?!
Oh damn, I remember. The press is owed by large corporations who are friends and supporters of Bush. Never mind.
Ogrish.com if you feel so inclined.
Typical of this administration’s policy. First, there were to be no pictures taken of flag draped coffins of the brave soldiers who died in Iraq. Now they don’t even want pictures taken of the hurricane casualties. Not allowing pictures to be taken in either case does not diminish the heartbreak of it all.
We were inundated with pics of the Tsunami victims, but we don’t have the stomach to see our fellow citizens in peril. I’m so glad I have those nice guys in Washington looking out for me. What would I do without them? Make up my mind based on the facts and not Katie and Matt’s homespun rhetoric?
I would understand them objecting to the airing and publishing of these pictures, after all post 911 there were images floating around that no network (well any non cable, non UPN level network) would have aired. In NO the pics will be worse, with bloated ripped up corpses everywhere that have been rotting in the sun and water for days/weeks, so sensitivity to the relatives of the victims would make it logical NOT to publish such images.
The only reason I can assume that they would do it is the fact that the media around the world practices worse judgement than the average 3 year old. But I would much rather have news agencies shut down by the outcry when the morons inevitably show the same dead face of someones child for the next month ( can you imagine knowing that your loved one was in the Trade Center, now think about how many thousands of times you have seen the people there die on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, etc.) than to have a government agency announcing such a policy.
Outrage? I’m sure most Americans have no desire to see dead bodies all the over the streets. There are places on the internet for that, it certainly doesn’t belong in mainstream papers. And John, do you really belive they are blocking these photos to cover up their mistakes? Give me a break. Have some respect for the dead and their families. We all know there are bodies all over the place, but we don’t need to see them. And by the way, put the blame where it belongs on the loudmouth Mayor and clueless Govenor for the tragedy. The Fed have 49 other states to look after.
If the press can get there by themselves, let ‘em take pictures.
They don’t belong on the retreival boats – the people doing this work need the room to do their jobs.
Two cases that recently came before the Supreme court relating to death scene photos of Vince Foster and race driver Dale Earnhardt set the precedent that the individual’s right to privacy, and their heir’s rights, outweighed the first amendment.
However, the press is not muzzled as any witness is allowed to give their opinion of what they viewed, but the photographic specifics belong to the deceased.
Those who would not be restrained by respect for the dead, would find themselves with an open-ended legal exposure and any number of lawyers who would stand in line to take the case on contengency. Absense of malice does not apply releitve to public officials either and the courts would have no choice but to side against the publisher.
listening to the live show… yay!
Let the performance of FEMA be a message to all those who support socialized medicine. If they are this disorganized imagine how your healthcare will be when it is controlled by the federal government.
How in the world is this a free speech issue?
I agree with Theodoropoulos, in that this is a respect for the victims and sensitivity to the families issue. Everyone knows the cleanup will likely be pretty grisly. Geez Louise, people! Did you also scream for the pics of the mangled bodies inside of Princess Diana’s wrecked Mercedes? Why not?!?!? Free Speech!
Just what we need, a bunch of bloggers posting pictures of rotting corpses, without permission from the families, without accountability, without any respect… sad.
p.s. What a comfort to see at least a couple of folk blame it on Bush. BUSH CONTROLS ALL!!! ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO BUSH!
Over 11,000 Iraqi women, children and old people died as their buildings collapsed on them due to “smart bombs” we were never given a picture of these, too. It seems that in love and war – all America wants to paint is a picture that it is the land of the brave and the free. Never mind the truth that its bravery has been abused to exploit the weak and its freedom used to excuse its intolerance and incompetence.
I don’t whether the public wants to see these pics or not and I don’t care who the pics belong to in some obscure instances. (Generally speaking the photographer owns the images). I just don’t think the Government should be making the decisions and edicts. The real reason is they don’t want to public to see the mess or corpses. This is called BIG BROTHER — BIG GOVERNMENT. They are only doing it to protect themselves not to protect the sensibilities of the public. Geez.
Seeing the photos of dead New Orleaners would only fuel the already fuming American People. We know there are dead people. We know there are thousands more they will find. Just post your notes, and send your letters to Congress. This president needs to go right along side of Mike Brown.
They don’t show photos of war dead because of their families. This isn’t the case here.
Here is the web site to find your congressmen, http://www.house.gov/writerep/
and this is the web site on HOW to write to them.
http://www.publiceye.org/ifas/fw/9507/write.html
I suggest, as Americans, we start getting it together. Obviously, our Government can’t.
John, you are absolutely right that the photographer owns the image in the camera – just that pulishing that image, which is their first amendment right, has consequences. The court ruling was not that they had no right to the images of Vince Foster and Dale Earnhardt – but that the deceased had a greater right to privacy.
That said – You are probably right that the government is artfully using this as a shield to protect their image – what is left of it. The government has much company here, and the press is unlikely to get permission. Likely, a few will get legal but not ethical forgiveness, and reporters overseas will get immunity.
Just don’t expect to see a corpse on the cover of Time, they have too much to loose.
“they have not “blocked” the photos. they have *requested* that photos not be taken of the dead. why is this a shocker? why is this wrong? it’s called “showing respect for the dead”, as well as respect for any living relatives who may see them.” – Paul Theodoropoulos
I agree with you in showing respect for the dead and the families thereof, but how about showing some respect for the living in not sending them into a war zone that wasn’t necessary or not letting them perish in the first place by getting their act together and doing their job of supporting the situation as best as they can. If this is regarded as the best FEMA can do, the rest of the world will be so very unimpressed. They made mistakes that cost lives. We are the richest nation in the world and we can’t afford to get food to living people within a week? The true power of our country is how well we are united together, and unfortunately, we have seen many choices delivered to us that have done just the opposite. Are we telling the world that our own people aren’t worth sacrificing our own lives for? Maybe we can outsource someone to save us.
John what’s pissing you off is the same thing as me. After a few months, a few minor resignations, and a bunch of blame for local response, Bush will weather this fine. The core voters will stay behind him after constant TV coverage ends. The democrates will probably screw up the midterms by appearing to be too mean to poor old W.
In this case I think that respect for the victims’ families trumps freedom of press. I can’t imagine how heart-breaking it would be to not hear from a family member that was stuck in NOLA for over a week and find out that they died from seeing their dead body posted on some knucklehead’s blog.