Gatekeeping and Framing

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Privacy, Taste or the Public’s Right to Know?

One of the most hot-button issues in news occurs when the press publishes or airs images that are emotional or violent or express grief.

Throughout the Bush administration, for example, photographers weren’t allowed to shoot images of flag-draped caskets coming home from the Iran or Afghanistan wars. The argument was thaat such photos violated the families’ privacy, even though many families wanted their loved ones honored as they returned home, having made the ultimate sacrifice. (Cynics, critics and tree-hugging Democrats said the real reason was that the Bush administration didn’t want public support for the war eroded by reminders that bad things were happening over there, in our names).

Ironically, some TV networks were accused of routinely sanitizing the news for squeamish audiences, even as their international feeds contained much more graphic images and commentary. For example, bodies and injured from bombings rarely showed up on CNN, while CNN International broadcast much more horrific stuff.

Here’s discussion of a recent example: the photo of an American GI shortly before and after he was shot and killed.

UPDATE: AP Photo Captures Death of Marine in Afghanistan -- Pentagon Protests

What do you think? How can you relate this to a) what mass communication theories tell us about how news and perception work? and b) to what you consider the expectations of ethical journalists and their obligations to readers and viewers and citizens?
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