Home > Bush : ’Don’t show dead bodies’ --- Bellaciao : please send us images...

Bush : ’Don’t show dead bodies’ --- Bellaciao : please send us images...

by Open-Publishing - Friday 9 September 2005
17 comments

Catastrophes USA

Washington - Official United States admonitions against broadcasting images of cadavers in New Orleans floodwaters have prompted charges that America’s media helped cover up the slow United States response to Hurricane Katrina.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has taken much of the heat for the lack of organisation, asked news organisations not to show pictures of dead bodies.

US newspapers have published photographs of bodies floating in the city, devastated by flooding after Katrina socked the US Gulf Coast. Press agencies, including Agence France-Presse, have also distributed photographs in which bodies were unidentifiable, but which rankled the public, anyway.

However, US television networks have largely abstained from broadcasting such pictures, as they did on September 11 2001, turning cameras away from those jumping from the twin towers, to avoid putting off viewers.

Being respectful

"The American press is known to be one of the most delicate electronic press in the world," said Larry Siems, Freedom to Write programme director, PEN American Centre, in New York.

"The press exercise a great deal of caution and even self-censorship. It is clearly illegal under US law, the First Amendment" to the US Constitution, he said.

"Out of respect for the families that are missing their loved ones, FEMA has asked that the images not be shown, but this decision is left to the members of the media," said Mark Pfeifle, FEMA spokesperson.

"FEMA personnel on the ground are just trying to be respectful of the families," he said.

Amy Mitchell, associate director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism at Columbia University, said FEMA’s motivation behind the request was what mattered most.

"If it was for the purpose of crisis management, that’s completely wrong. If it is to protect the families, I can understand the request, it does not mean the media are going to follow it," she said.

Siems said FEMA was part of President George W Bush’s administration, which "has tried in the past to restrict images of the coffins of returning servicemen from Iraq."

"For FEMA to do it seems off-mission, but it comes from an administration that has tried to exert some control over images of important news events," he said.

Mary McGinnis, CBS vice-president in charge of news, said, "We take into consideration what time it would air, and on what broadcast. We are totally respectful of the dead and how we portray them."

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/...

Forum posts

  • Since I feel that this administration has no respect for the living especially if you are a Democrat or if you just happen to be born with non white skin..... I feel it is the height of hypocrisy to hide the bodies of the dead victims of Katria to cover up the horrific mistakes and lies and greed and hate of this very very cold heartless administration ....It is so heartbreaking to express opinions about this administration ......They have so much illgotten POWER that it’s like pulling an impacted wisdom tooth to get the brainwashed bush zombies to understanf that they are brainwashed and are helping to destroy our country.........

    • It is outrageous that, still today, dead bodies are found everywhere in the NO area. A reporter asked several people (fireman, policeman, soldier) who was in charge of collecting the dead bodies and the invariable reply was "I don’t know." Yet there are thousands of people standing around, presumable to "help" with controlling the after-effects of Katrina, but "it’s not my job" is the answer. Whose job is it? Who is President at this time? Who is "in charge?" Well, it seems that Passing the Buck is the answer. This way Bush can go back to cutting brush at Crawford without contaminating his hands by handling corpses.
      If you are not outraged, then you must be a Republican.

    • You are the biggest collection of ill-informed, hate filled bigots I have ever seen in my entire life.

      Fact: The idiot "citizens" of New Orleans knew a friggin’ hurricane was coming......LEAVE.

      Fact: The incompetent a-hole of a "Mayor" of New Orleans would not use 200 buses to evacuate people because...and I quote....."they did not have bathrooms on them"

      Fact: The red cross AND federal relief was standing by the DAY AFTER THE HURRICANE!!! and were blocked by whom?????? That’s right folks...the DEMOCRATIC governor of Louisiana.

      Caution to all of you in cities run by black democrats...THIS COULD BE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

    • somebody watches too much tv...

      The Gullibility Factor test

      http://www.newstarget.com/gullibility.html

      8 big lies about katrina

      http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8181

    • You hate filled liberal democrats are reaping the reward for electing a incompetent mayor and govenor...now you want to blame everyone else. Get over the 2000 election, you didn’t win and you will never win using these same lies over and over again. Get off your lazy liberal asses and do a little work and research. You may just find something that is TRUE and that is worth fighting for.

      The reason this was a disaster, is for what wasn’t done BEFORE the hurricane hit! As the previous post said, "when told to evacuate, LEAVE"
      Those who didn’t have transportation can blame the Mayor, no one else. School buses sat idle, only to be covered by water. They should have been used to transport those without transportation...evacuate hospitals...etc ...etc.
      Oh...this was a federal issue? It was the Iraq war? only 22% of the national guard in the disaster area was in Iraq...there were plenty available for the Govenor TO CALL IN!

      How much do you pay the Mayor? Was it money well spent?
      It appears to me that New Orleans didn’t care about its poor people, and didn’t even make a token effort to save them.

      We can view the bodies once they have all been identified, that is the usual courtesy given to the families of the deceased.

    • All of us "hate-filled" Democrats sincerely hope that all of you "lie infested" Republicans will be found floating face down in some ditch from some hurricane or tornado. HOw you can possibly listen to that scoundrel Bush and his brutal henchmen is a matter for psychiatrists, because you MUST BE CRAZY.

    • Let’s not play the blame game, shall we, hypocrite?

  • pic.php?f=nola-dead-001.jpg

  • Well, the can’t hide the body counts. Dead people also deserve dignity!

    We already learned that the death toll will be much lower then expected, also this can’t be credited to the Government.

    The upcoming month and years will punch huge wholes in the governmental budgets - 600 Billion of damages are projected.

  • Don’t all of you bleeding heart liberals get it? Poverty is evidence of moral defect and those poor people in NO and the affected Gulf Coast area deserved what they got. How do I know this is true? The simple-minded, "morally superior" (because they have a few bucks in their pockets) neanderthals who posted comments on this article blaming the victims told me so. Yeeeech!

    • Your post makes no sense.

      I don’t beleive I’ve read anything in the Bible about wealth and morals equavalancies.

      By your measure Bill Gates, as well as the King of Saudi Arabia are morally superior.

      (It is worth repeating this.) You post makes no sense.

    • Benighted poster # 4 45 - First of all, my post was meant to spoof the knuckleheads’ points of view that amount to "Blame the Victims" for their plights. Secondly, regarding your opinion on "wealth and morals equavalancies"(sic), try to read your Bible more slowly, particularly Matthew, Chapter 19.

    • Just another attempt to manage the news....people forget words much faster than they forget pictures. Maggot doesn’t want anyone to publish these photos "of what went wrong" they are too hard to forget....and his main job right now is to gloss over the ugly truth of the mess he has made of our country. This mess is his making as much as the Iraq war which he also has to take credit for...the man is dangerous and needs to be removed from office.

    • They are already starting the propaganda machine to fudge the body count by saying"the death count appears that it will be much less thenexpected".
      We will never know how many perished on that day or the five days after while waiting for help. Cheney, Rove, and gang are trying to come up with their "perfect number" that will sound like enough but defenitely not too many! These guys lie about everything!
      There are already reports of over 1200 bodies brought to one morgue (this # isn’t reported on TV).
      Wake Up... operate on the premise that whatever they tell you WILL be a lie!
      They have done nothing to deserve our trust!

  • 4.jpg

    This woman speaks for herself. We all need to scream so loud the world feels her pain. Fly the American Flag upside upside down signalling international distress: extreme danger to life.

    Static Brain

  • I mailed an image. The link is here Dead Woman

    Static Brain

    • Well, in the famous words of Belezu"babs" Bush, this is a step up for these people, it is working very well for them.....