FEMA Blocks Photos of New Orleans Dead — Apparently the First Amendment of the US Constitution is rescinded by decree.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.
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.
Bush is heading the investigation. You might as well consider it an internal affairs investigation. Someone mid level will get their hands slapped and then life will go on for Fema.
Fema Cheif “Well you see we’re an entity made up of other entities that redirected it’s stance on terrorism to offset the misinformation and deflection of blame on Katrina, so we kind of do what we’re supposed to do a week after the deadline.” (No he didn’t really say that)
It’s not like after a week of floating in sewage mixed with brackish water — in 90+ degree water — that ANY BODIES would be the slightest bit recognizable by the relatives. Seriously…can we say “bloat and pale”? The whole reason to NOT show the bodies is because it’s such a telling tale of “screw up” that it’s hard to avoid the new popular pastime (according to Bush and friends) of BLAME GAME.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know they’re doing it all now. A week late. Whatever. It’s not like dead bodies are all that scary…ooOOOooo…they’re just dead bodies, folks. No big deal. Right?
Thank you government for protecting me from the ugliness of reality cause if those pictures were taken, I don’t know if I could voluntarily stop myself from viewing them or changing the channel. Heck, those pictures might of even scared me enough to actually follow evacuation notices the next time a hurricane bears down. Although now, I can remain confident that I just need to invest in a blow up raft and wait for the government aid to arrive because they are my protector.
This country is so convoluted. The unborn and the dead have more rights than the living. I suppose we can thank religion for these two groups having personal rights that exceed those of living individuals. This is necessary because it’s impossible to mentally separate the body from the soul which is why I have all my loved ones taxidermied and placed as statues in my living room. They can never leave me…unless?… they get blown or washed away in a hurricane. Ohhh, when will mother nature stop trying to take my loved ones from me?
“The fact is they (FEMA) do no want the public to witness the horror of their botched job.”
I am sick and tired of all the armchair quaterbacking surrounding the Federal relief effort. You can bitch all you want about the media coverage of Katrina, but you should really lay off the folks FEMA. They organized and deployed as quickly as humanly possible in an environment of complete chaos and anarchy that covered multiple states, and are now doing an amazing job of providing aid.
Please remember that neither FEMA, nor the Federal government is to blame for Katrina; it was a terrible act of God. This is an another example of people looking to Uncle Sam to solve their problems. I’m sure that heads will roll at FEMA, if only to placate the Mayor of New Orleans’ and the Governor of Louisiana’s respective constituencies.
Reading through the comments, the first to make any true sense was site admin’s. If you don’t want to see the pictures, and for sure I don’t, then don’t look. But to suggest that the pictures should NOT be published because FEMA said so is just plain wrong.
The Foster and Earnhardt pictures are owned by the Medical Examiners, not the press. The press sued to gain access to the pictures saying they are public property, but were denied by the courts. They are the property of the Counties and the Counties had authority to follow the wishes of the families. The only winner out of this was the reaffirmation that the photographer owns the pictures and may decide the publication issues on its own values. There is no freedom of the press issue on this.
After the length of time spent in the water, I cannot imagine any body being recognizable. Second, I doubt that the published pictures would have facial close-ups.
And lastly, I too believe that journalists are not being allowed along with the rescuers is so the true horror of this tragedy will not be shown to the American public. If you have ever had to pull a body out of the water after several days, I would be inclined to understand why someone would want to keep the pictures from public view. It is not a pretty site. That does not mean that journalists should be dissuaded from doing their jobs, including taking pictures.
Hey Hal don’t forget about the pictures that the press has of all the Iraqis,mostly children, who have been injured or killed by car and sucide bombs. A guy I know actually has some of these pictures of kids with faces that look like hamburger meat they are very disturbing.
The issue is…this society has a real problem with death. We don’t know how to grieve. 50 years ago it was considered “NORMAL” to grieve for at least a year, 30 years ago the process was shortened to several months, now we are given two or three days “berevement” and patted on the head and told that we are ABNORMAL if we can’t get over it in six weeks (no lie, that’s the “experts” line on it). We toss the hamster and replace it before Timmy gets home.
Meanwhile….the whole issue of keeping a comatose woman alive or let her die debate becomes the national pastime. Pre-human fetus, and zygots are given full rights, and walking-talking-able bodies humans are trapped in a sports stadium without water or food to kill a few dozen, while the others are tormented by uncontrolled gangs of hoodlems who have apparently had their souls removed, as they didn’t seem to care it was an emergency. Where WAS the humanity? Wasn’t there..not in the services provided, and not in the ruthless sociopaths terrorizing.
So, somehow, by shielding us from photos of bodies….we’re being …what? Politically correct? Better?
I think that getting a dose of humanity might include some up-close and personal moments of lives that have ended, tragically. Let it pull at our heartstrings, and let it remind us that life is fragile. That’s human. The human condition is that we are all here for some limited time, and it’s important to make the most of it. It’s the little things that matter.
Now, having said that, yes….let the reporters pull some bloated floating, rotting human flesh out of the muck…and let them see what it’s all about. Would certainly “grow them up” a bit, and maybe impress on them how important reporting is to the rest of us. Let them report what it’s like to smell death, close up. It’s something they will remember when they idly talk about the body count in Iraq, or before they call some poor grieving father or mother asking if they think their dead child had been drinking, or was a gang member, or had been a frequent run-away. Make them reconsider a question such as “care to respond?” because that’s the question they were taught to ask in J-School….but, never given the insight into when that question is never appropriate.
Death and dead bodies are never pretty but it is a very strong reminder that death is never far away, and life is worth protecting.
I don’t recall this administration’s request for respect for the dead when their pro-life supporters drove around with billboard photographs of aborted embryos and fetuses emblazoned on the sides of the trucks.
I still cannot see why it is unreasonable to ask the media not to show pictures of dead bodies that would have been sitting in the water/ sewage and laying in the New Orleans heat for over a week. The press just wants to capilatize off this, and the fact that the majority of the press is so libral and anit Bush this just adds to it.
Evoryone wants to blaim Bush and FEMA, and I will be the first to admit that they did a terrible job of handeling this, but what about the Mayor and Govoner of New Orleans. They new that there fwould be over 75,000 people that would need assistance getting out of the city. Did anyone think to use the three hundred or so school buses which are now sitting up to their wheel wells in water?
Photos showing corpses in New Orleans should be shown same as they show pictures of dead Iraqui soldiers lying in the streets. They aren’t identifiable when shown from some angles and not close up. Americans have to get in contact with reality. It takes a picture to get across the horror of something that words can’t describe.
I am disgusted. We all know that people died. Why show their decaying bodies being recovered? We can see the death toll and understand the lives lost. If a relative of mine died in this disaster, the last thing I would want is to have the recovery of the decaying bodies being televised. That is just sick. Are you that insensitive? Would you like to see one of your family member’s bodies being picked up after being dead for perhaps a week or more? Also, what about those who are doing the recovery, don’t you think their job is hard enough with out a bunch of media folk following them around? But you feel you must that they must show this. Why? So we can understand how horrible this tragedy is? Well apparently we are not as thick headed as you guys are. We can see the death count and understand without having to see the decaying bodes. Have some respect for the dead and their kin!