Response Essay 1

I enjoyed reading the story about lifting the photo ban. I thought he had an interesting perspective on the subject as a journalist and as someone who has served as an officer during war.

I agree that there should not be a photo ban on wars however I do believe that restrictions are necessary. Complete freedom of journalism during war could be disrespectful to family members and soldiers. Photos of the flag-dropped coffins may help the public to better understand the pain and loss of these families but I’m not sure that these photographs can help citizens to “meaningfully weigh the choices of sending our troops to war.” People are already informed of how many soldiers die and they have already made decisions about whether or not they want war. I don’t believe that seeing a picture of a coffin could have that much more of an impact on their decision. However I do think it is a good idea because it can begin to help the rest of us “understand the pain that people endure when losing loved ones who wore uniforms in warfare.”

One quote from the article that I found particularly interesting was “the camera lens, if used professionally and responsibly, captures real moments and relays visual information.” This is true, however not all journalists care about being responsible and some may even have a different motive. Some photos can be deceptive and relay a completely different image then what is really going on; however the public is only going to believe what they are told and what they see through these images. I think the restrictions placed were well thought out. They give the families of the deceased the ultimate say on whether or not a photo will be published which I think shows great respect for the soldiers and families.

I found the article about the disturbing images to be particularly interesting. After seeing some of the images I had an immediate opinion on whether or not they should be published but after reading the responses I had mixed feelings. It is hard to decide where the line should be drawn on publishing photos but I do believe that the media should tell the truth and sometimes that means showing people things that they don’t want to see.

My take on disturbing images is that sometimes they are necessary to show people what is really gong on. They often can have a positive outcome because even though they may not be pleasant at first they can often times be honorable or even encourage someone to help out. It is one thing for someone to tell you about a world problem (such as starving children) but is another thing completely to see a picture of the pain that child is experiencing. It is easy to ignore words but ignoring an image is hard to do. I think that the public needs to be aware of world problems involving terrorism and they should be exposed however a line must be drawn in order to respect victims and families.

In response to Wally Rayl’s statement about facing reality being a problem in our society I guess I would have to agree. People don’t want to see the problems in our society because if they don’t see them they are easy to put aside and not deal with. I also enjoyed his quote that talked about how people can not react appropriately if the media is altering or not giving the complete information because they are trying to protect us. I do think that the media should censor some of their images. Although the public needs to know the truth and the extent of circumstances some photos should not be published because they are too graphic and may be disrespectful to publish.

To what extent should the media be censored? Well that is a tough question to answer because I don’t think that there is a defined answer. I think each photo needs to be analyzed individually and when publishing a photo a journalist should consider the people in the photo and their families and how it will effect the public that see it.