Corporal Bernard's death in action picture criticised. Combat photography: should it be censored?

Corporal Bernard's death in action picture criticised. Combat photography: should it be censored? timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists... photograph of the dying Marine, taken by the Associated Press photographer Julie Jacobson on August 14, moments after a Taleban ambush outside the village of Dahaneh, has provoked fury in America. Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary, accused AP of a “lack of compassion and common sense” in distributing the image to newspapers: some of these published it, while others chose not to.

Corporal Bernard was the 19th American soldier to die in Helmand in a single month. American public support for the war in Afghanistan is waning fast, and Congress is expected to resist calls from Barack Obama for more troops. Defenders of the photograph accused Mr Gates of attempting to sanitise the conflict, by concealing the grim reality of the war at a critical political juncture.

Asked by spikejones 27 months ago Similar questions: Corporal Bernard's death action picture criticised Combat photography censored Politics & Law > War.

Similar questions: Corporal Bernard's death action picture criticised Combat photography censored.

The Associated Press photograph was condemned by US defence secretary Robert Gates, who told the agency: "I cannot imagine the pain and suffering Lance Corporal Bernard's death has caused his family. "Why your organisation would purposefully defy the family's wishes, knowing full well that it will lead to yet more anguish, is beyond me."Your lack of compassion and commonsense in choosing to put this image of their maimed and stricken child on the front page of multiple American newspapers is appalling". But AP's director of photography Santiago Lyon countered: "We feel it is our journalistic duty to show the reality of the war there, however unpleasant and brutal that sometimes is.

"As Jack Bremer points out, the picture's "grainy realism" is redolent of Robert Capa's famous image of the falling soldier taken during the Spanish civil war. He quotes Colin Jacobson, the former picture editor of The Independent Magazine and founder of Reportage magazine, as saying: "You have to ask, Is it gratuitous or does it contribute to a greater understanding of what is going on in Afghanistan? On balance, you would have to say it does.

"I'd guess that most journalists, especially those who oppose the war, would agree. But I suspect that people who support the war agree with Gates, believing that the underlying message it sends to the public is of a young man making a worthless sacrifice. Sources: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade+war-reporting .

Corporal Bernard's death in action picture... Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard Was Struck by a Rocket-Propelled Grenade in Afghanistan and Fatally wounded.

The order is to honor the funeral of a Marine from Maine who was killed in Afghanistan. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland died on August 14th while supporting combat operations in Afghanistan.

He died at a tender age of 21. News source : abcnewsDefense Secretary Robert Gates personally lobbied the Associated Press in an unsuccessful bid that the news agency honor a family's wish that it not distribute a graphic photograph showing the final moments of their son's life after the marine had been mortally wounded in a firefight in Afghanistan. In this Thursday, Aug.27, 2009 file photo, U.S.Marine Cpl.

Braxton Russell pays his respects to...(Julie Jacobson/AP Photo/USMC)The photo shows 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, being helped by squadmates shortly after suffering severe leg injuries in a Taliban ambush in southern Afghanistan in mid-August.

He was evacuated to a field hospital where he later died on the operating table.......Read more HERElance corporal bernard photo, Joshua m. Bernard, lance corporal bernards pics, lance cpl. Joshua m.

Bernard, associated press Controversy pic, lance cpl. Joshua m. Bernard photo, lance cpl.

Joshua m. Bernard death photo, lance cpl. Joshua m.

Bernard picture, dying marine photo,joshua bernard marine photo, joshua bernard marine Sources: http://www.results-source.com/2009/09/lance-corporal-joshua-m-bernard-death.html .

1 I generally oppose censorship. But I would not buy a magazine with the pictures.

I generally oppose censorship. But I would not buy a magazine with the pictures.

2 Public support is vaiable and a good foreign policy needs more effort and reason. At least we should see if our plans are working or not and the winter and a cold fall are very close. That will be an end to fighting no matter what we do or say.

Public support is vaiable and a good foreign policy needs more effort and reason. At least we should see if our plans are working or not and the winter and a cold fall are very close. That will be an end to fighting no matter what we do or say.

Poppet* replied to post #1: 3 Gary said it all.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.