Shocking, grisly pictures vital to story of Katrina
By Joanne Ostrow
According to Reuters, “the U.S. government agency leading the rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina said on Tuesday it does not want the news media to take photographs of the dead as they are recovered from the flooded New Orleans area. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, heavily criticized for its slow response to the devastation caused by the hurricane, rejected requests from journalists to accompany rescue boats as they went out to search for storm victims.”
The news agency quoted a FEMA spokeswoman as saying, “We have requested that no photographs of the deceased be made by the media.” Some will praise that request as sensitive and fitting. Others will see in it the same censorship applied to the pictures of flag-draped coffins of troops returning from Iraq. Taking a cue from reality TV, the Bush administration has learned it’s all in the editing.