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Voices: Debate over images of death
(CNN) -- "Voices," a regular feature of CNN.com, compiles comments on major news issues. In an attempt to convince skeptical Iraqis that Saddam Hussein's sons were killed this week in Mosul, the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority released still photos Thursday of corpses said to be of Uday and Qusay Hussein. The U.S. military then took the unusual step Friday of allowing journalists to view and videotape the two bodies. Below are excerpts from interviews with journalists, television viewers and newsmakers about the U.S. release of the images and the media's decision to broadcast them. Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. defense secretaryThe U.S. government said that L. Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, released the photos on Thursday, not the military. Rumsfeld declared it was his decision to release them. "[It was] not a close call for me. If it can save American lives, I'm happy to have made the decision I made." Kelly McBride, journalism ethics expertMcBride is on the faculty at the Poynter Institute, which teaches current and future journalists. CNN.com interviewed her. "Most news organizations have a policy about photos of bodies. They have to consider what are the values that underpin those policies. ... Once you start there, you ask, 'What is the news value of showing a body?' ... For a news agency in Iraq, it is easy to answer. People didn't believe it was true. For American audiences, it's different. No one questioned if they were dead." Howard Kurtz, media critic for CNN and The Washington PostKurtz appeared Friday on CNN. "I feel troubled ... about the degree to which CNN and the other cable networks are showing these photos and the morgue footage. Obviously, it's newsworthy, and you have to show them to some degree. But recall a few short months ago, U.S. officials were expressing outrage when Saddam Hussein's state-controlled network showed some of those POWs alive and some dead. We don't hear any of that from administration officials today because these pictures serve their propaganda purposes." Dan Rather, anchor of 'The CBS Evening News'In a column Friday for The Washington Post, Tom Shales quoted Rather on his network's decision to air the images. "... I don't feel good about it, but I don't see how we could meet our journalistic responsibility and meet the competitive aspects of what we do and not put them on. There's no way I'm going to be comfortable about it, but you have to weigh the factors." Jeanne, viewer in VirginiaA viewer called in Thursday to CNN to share her opinion of media dissemination of the photos. "... I just think it's a wonderful idea that their pictures are displayed. I think their brutality over the years has hurt so many lives. ... But you know their pictures being displayed is absolute relief. ..." Margaret, viewer in IllinoisA viewer called in Thursday to CNN to share her opinion of media dissemination of the photos. "This reflects a callous, brutal disregard and disrespect of human life. I don't understand why they showed these pictures. If we had arrested and brought them to trial, that would show us as a country of laws. This makes us look like the same level as them. We also killed a 14-year-old boy in that raid. Why don't we show his picture? This is extremely poor judgment of the Bush administration. ... I am deeply ashamed. They could do the same thing to our soldiers. This is terrible." Cliff May, Foundation for the Defense of DemocraciesThe Foundation for the Defense of Democracies is a Washington-based think tank that conducts research and education on the war on terrorism. May, also former communications director for the Republican National Committee, appeared Friday on CNN to discuss the issue. "Imagine the firestorm of controversy if the U.S. had the pictures and refused to release them. ... Secondly, the U.S. is releasing them. But you at CNN, you're not forced to put them on the air. That's your editorial decision. Similarly, in Iraq for the first time in 30 years, there's a free press. Dozens of newspapers are making the decision [of] do they want to run the pictures." Jon B. Alterman, Center for Strategic and International StudiesAlterman is the director of the Middle East program at the center, a nonpartisan organization that offers world leaders strategic insights and policy solutions. He appeared Friday on CNN to discuss images from the video. "I think it was smart, and it was necessary. There's a real difference between proving that you killed Uday and Qusay and convincing Iraqis you killed Uday and Qusay. And it's important to convince the Iraqis that they're gone. They're not coming back."
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