Debate Of War Pictures
People argue that certain pictures of war should not be shown. This is always a debate because the families of the soldiers' want privacy and respect from the public and government of what happens to the soldiers. Another apparent reason pictures are not shown is because of the government wanting to protect ground of how certain things in war function on the financial side and other secret parts because some photographers get right into the action before, during and after war events and even follow the soldiers' coffins home. Though their is the Freedom of Information Act that the government does its best to go by, some times the pictures get leaked out.
"Some are classified because they reveal the secret ways the United States wages war. Placed in archives. ...Some are made public after many years, resonating like Mathew Brady's prints from the Civil War,"... "These military photographers also document their fellow soldiers' journeys home, even if that journey is made inside a flag-draped coffin,". ..."Many news organizations have accused the Pentagon and the Bush administration of trying to keep images of soldiers killed in Iraq away form public for political reasons, fearing a loss of support for the war. But whatever the reason for not releasing them, why were these pictures taken at all," (Photos of Soldiers' Coffins Spark a Debate Over Access, by Thom Shanker and Bill Carter).
Whatever the case to show or not to show war pictures, photographers are going to take whatever pictures they can, though they are still risking their lives to get that close to the action whether or not the footage is used. The government will always hold pictures from the public in a sense to protect themselves of certain aspects of war, but it also is protecting soldiers' pictures for families that would not or do not want the public to see from war.
"Some are classified because they reveal the secret ways the United States wages war. Placed in archives. ...Some are made public after many years, resonating like Mathew Brady's prints from the Civil War,"... "These military photographers also document their fellow soldiers' journeys home, even if that journey is made inside a flag-draped coffin,". ..."Many news organizations have accused the Pentagon and the Bush administration of trying to keep images of soldiers killed in Iraq away form public for political reasons, fearing a loss of support for the war. But whatever the reason for not releasing them, why were these pictures taken at all," (Photos of Soldiers' Coffins Spark a Debate Over Access, by Thom Shanker and Bill Carter).
Whatever the case to show or not to show war pictures, photographers are going to take whatever pictures they can, though they are still risking their lives to get that close to the action whether or not the footage is used. The government will always hold pictures from the public in a sense to protect themselves of certain aspects of war, but it also is protecting soldiers' pictures for families that would not or do not want the public to see from war.
posted by christina at 11:21 PM
1 Comments:
A good post.
What are the reasons why images of war need to be censored? First of all operational and troop security. Second, respect for the privacy of individual soldiers and their families.
The American media does a pretty good job of respecting these boundaries. On the other hand, the military can use these reasons as an excuse for unnecessary censorship.
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