Associated Press to Dead Soldier's Family: "Here's Your Son's Death Photo"
Despite Plea from Defense Secretary Gates, AP Publishes Photo of Dying Soldier
Army Times Staff Writer William H McMichael has written an article titled DoD, AP battle over photo of dying Marine."
Right out of the shoot let's get something straight. The Associated Press isn't interested in showing this soldier's honor; The Associated Press isn't interested in freedom of speech nor is the Associated Press in showing the war as it is. The motive of the Associated Press is money and more money.
McMichael tells us in his article that Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard was struck by a rocket propelled grenade in Afghanistan. The photo taken by the Associated Press photographer showed the soldiers face and the wound.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent a letter asking Associated Press President Thomas Curley asking him to keep the picture out of the press. Curley waited and then printed it.
He was chastised by Gates so Curley said they would reconsider but later the Associated Press decided the picture was too important.
Nah, what these people mean is that they couldn't pass up the revenue. They couldn't pass up the controversy that brings attention and money. They couldn't pass up the power trip.
This reminds me of the girl who was in a fatal accident and then the cops released her photos. She was almost completely decapitated but who cares how the parents feel. Everybody got to show her head hanging off of her body to make money.
This Marine gave his life for his country. How do you think this young boy would feel about these self-righteous "journalists" showing his death picture to his parents?
Is that their idea of paying him tribute? Is that their idea of honoring someone who gave their life?
Two years ago some friends of ours lost their son in an auto accident. It was a shock.
The first thing that the local press did was start looking for illegal reasons for the accident.
That was bad enough. However, while they were waiting for autopsy results they gave a running commentary about what might happen.
Several years ago I owned a transportation company. We were supposed to have so much insurance on our vehicles. The city forgot to notify us that there was a change but that didn't stop the paper from accusing of us of being negligent. When I called them on it and asked for a retraction they said "Sue us."
Power comes in a lot of forms. The Associated Press just showed you a major abuse of power.
Reference:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/military_ap_photo_gates_bernard_090409w/
Published by Gary Davis
Retired Insurance CEO. Trained in medicine and medicines. Trained in mental health particularly manic depression as well as most illnesses (from medical underwriting. Business owner, business, marketing,... View profile
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- This article is about the Associated Press publishing the death photo of a Marine.
14 Comments
Post a CommentCould you please not label this site as %22News%22 when it%27s actually just pundit-like commentary%3F It%27s rather demeaning to legitimate news sources.
To Dems:
Republicans own the AP? You moron, the AP is a not-for-profit cooperative, owned by its 1,500 U.S. daily newspaper members ( That's "mainstream media" and even an idiot like you knows that's code for liberal rags ) not to mention television and radio stations. Enjoy your biased regurgitated "news".
David K I hope someday someone publishes pictures of your children dying! No, I don't! No one should ever have to open a newspaper and see that. Ex Military, right on!!! Give Congress weapons and let them fight wars, under their own stupid rules. They can't even pass laws without special privelages....
My previous note was cut off, here's the rest of it: ... On the other hand, it shows the enemy killing our troops and may make us more motivated to get the job done over there. But this should be left for the people to judge for themselves, and we can't do that if we censor everything.
I think people are just looking for excuses to bash the "mainstream media" because they think the media is too liberal. I do have some mixed feelings about whether the family has the right to have the photo censored or not (because that's what this would be -- censorship), since I have not lost a loved one and don't know how I would react. However, I am sure a lot of people wouldn't want photos of their family members published for a wide variety of reasons (including being charged with crimes, for example), so at what point does a news organization's right to publish the truth outweigh the privacy rights of a family?
In any event, there was some mention of the "poltical statement" that the photo represents. This statement could probably be taken both ways, depending on how you view the war. On one hand, one might think it's a senseless loss of human life and we should be pulling troops out of all our Middle East positions. On the other hand, it shows the enemy killing our troo
The ap published the photo to make money for the company and to make a political statement using the dead soldiers photo. You all are aware that ap sells the photos to other new organizations, they do not give them away. When I was in the military (Vietnam era) the press never respected us and did their best to shame us and using a soldier's deaths as a political statement. How long will it take for the press to start publishing the photos of other soldiers dying on the battlefield on a regular basis? Remember it is congress who declared the war in Afghanistan and Iraq and the military is by the government to convince others to our position. Please for once would the press attack the government for using the military instead of focusing people against the military.
It's certainly understandable that people would want to see an end to any war, but it's the pain that the Associated Press caused an already devastated family that I just can't forgive. I did the only full-length interview with Lance Corporal Bernard's Dad, John. Hearing him relate what this has done to his wife and daughter was very convicting. You can only hear it here:
http://thebloviatinghammerhead.wordpress.com
Give it a listen - it's very provocative, and I believe you'll find that you end up feeling more empathy with the Bernards.
Correction....pictures of the decapitated girl referred to, Nicole Catsoura, were taken by California Highway Patrol officers, and circulated by a fake MySpace tribute page. Not by "self-rightous journalists".
Legitimate journalists and news agencies, to their credit, made this outrage public. There is now a lawsuit by the family against the police department. I hope they win.
Get your facts straight, Gary.
Who owns this paper? Republicans
Disgusting. Absolutely disturbing. How could one person do this to a family. Now the image of their son in his last few moments is burned into the minds of the American public. I'm sure that is how they want their son to be remembered. And I know Marines, they won't stand for this... It will not be pretty.