FEMA wants NO PHOTOS of the DEAD

[theearthisround]

http://www.informationliberation.com/index.php?id=1046

NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. agency leading Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts said Tuesday that it does not want the news media to photograph the dead as they are recovered.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, heavily criticized for its slow response to the devastation caused by the hurricane, rejected journalists' requests to accompany rescue boats searching for storm victims.

An agency spokeswoman said space was needed on the rescue boats.

"We have requested that no photographs of the deceased be made by the media," the spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

http://www.informationliberation.com/index.php?id=1046

[skooooo]

1. don't always get what you want

[yppahemnkm]

14. Too late, photos already out there.

[newyawker99]

17. Hi yppahemnkm!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[shoelace414]

2. no pictures = didn't happen

[hopein08]

5. Just like the no pics rule for the coffins from Iraq at Dover...

Will it ever end?

[WiseButAngrySara]

10. You got that one right...I predicted this days ago! Seize control of the

press, the law, and the property, and keep our eyes from viewing the evil of this FFFFFFFFFF-iiiiiiiiinnnnnnngggggggg administration of DEATH!

[truebrit71]

3. Until this country officially changes it's name to "Shutthefuckupistan"...

..the 1st amendment still applies....

Hey, here's an idea FEMA...how about you concentrate on doing your fucking jobs, and less about damage control you stupid bastards...:grr:

[Theres-a]

4. Too late

http://www.terra.cl/noticias/noticias.cfm?id_reg=534628&id_cat=303

[cynatnite]

6. To a degree I understand this

So many people across the country have lost loved ones and I can't imagine any of them would want pictures of them in such horrid condition on TV or in newspapers.

[cascadiance]

7. We don't publish autopsy photos, but that doesn't mean they aren't taken!

As someone who worked briefly at a photo lab and saw rolls of photos of autopsy photo negatives go through the machine, that was a necessary function for resolving people's deaths, but not something most of us wanted to see.

I look upon this as the same sort of thing. Journalists should be documenting what happened through photos like this, even if they don't publish them in their every day reports. Only in extreme circumstances, perhaps publish them as part of a regular report, but in most cases don't. But if they have photographic evidence of things, it is the corroborating proof they need to back up statements they might make in their stories, in case they are drug into court, etc. like CBS and Rather were...

[annabanana]

8. I don't think they care about individual corpses...

I think they're worried about shots that indicate the VOLUME. The sheer numbers have already been hinted at with a shot of 6 - 8 refrigrated 18 wheelers pulling up to the sad facility at St. Gabriel.

We need to see the extent of this heinous crime!

[Mutley]

9. Of course not.

We wouldn't want to show the world the result of their negligence.

[Fridays Child]

11. Bushworld™: No bodies. No problem. eom

[mod mom]

12. then maybe Brownie should have gotten off his sorry ass + responded

quicker!

[dflprincess]

13. Too late

Oprah was showing bodies on her show yesterday and I'll bet she has a lot more tape of them than what was aired.

[Flubadubya]

15. Whaddya want to bet the final, official death toll is fabricated...

I really doubt that we will ever hear the truth about the actual death toll count in this tragedy. Of course not, it would only make the admin. look even worse. That may be one reason they do not want the dead photographed. With a constant stream of corpses rolling by, it would make it harder to play down the truth! :grr:

[Spike from MN]

16. I'm surprised they even let the press into NO at all last

week. I bet they won't make that same mistake twice. In the next natural disaster, expect the press to be barred for "their own safety."

Face it, if the press hadn't been in NO, none of us would have had any idea of how horrendous things were for the people there. Any stories told by survivors afterwards would have been dismissed by the administration, ignored by the media, and the survivors would have been completely discredited by the Rove machine. Lacking pictures and/or video to back up their stories, they would have had a terrible uphill battle to try to get their stories out. Of course, BushCo would have their own band of "survivors" all ready to go before the cameras to speak of how wonderful the rescue operation was and what a great job Bush had done. Call me cynical but in Bush's America, that's how it is.