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When did US media start publishing photos of deceased people?


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I am really annoyed right now. I know this is common in some other countries, but I've always considered it overly sensationalist and insensitive to publish pictures of obviously deceased folks.

 

Several news media websites currently have photos of Ambassador Stevens' body being drug through the street. I guess this is no longer taboo. Disgusting. According to some reports, he was being drug to the hospital by allies. I don't think this justifies publishing the photo. And at least one news outlet does not make this clear and simply states he is being drug through the streets by Libyans, which implies a completely different set of circumstances.

 

I am really disgusted. His poor family.

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I just came here to ask about this. My ds was talking to me about the incidents in Egypt and Libya, so we went to a news site. The photo is on their front page! I was horrified. Usually they give a warning and you have to click to get to graphic content. (luckily my ds is 16 and not a very young impressionable child)

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I posted to the other thread regarding this this morning. The answer is: as long as there has been photography, and before that they had artists' renderings.

 

There were news photographs of the dead from the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in 1911, on the side walk and in the morgue they set up at the docks. There were photos of people jumping to their death, as well.

 

We simply have endless 24 hour news venues now. Then, it was the paper.

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I posted to the other thread regarding this this morning. The answer is: as long as there has been photography, and before that they had artists' renderings.

 

There were news photographs of the dead from the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in 1911, on the side walk and in the morgue they set up at the docks. There were photos of people jumping to their death, as well.

 

We simply have endless 24 hour news venues now. Then, it was the paper.

 

 

This. Also, the Victorians were obssessed with photographing the dead. They would even pose them or prop them to make them look more "life" like. The photos were considered treasured memories. If you were to look at some of them, most seem odd, yet harmless, but some are quite bizarre and even gruesome.

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This. Also, the Victorians were obssessed with photographing the dead. They would even pose them or prop them to make them look more "life" like. The photos were considered treasured memories. If you were to look at some of them, most seem odd, yet harmless, but some are quite bizarre and even gruesome.

 

Yeah, I am always drawn in (and yet saddened) by the Victorian mortuary photography I find in antiques stores. Saddened because the family is no longer in possession of this artifact of a loved one. I feel like one's mortuary photo should be an heirloom and remembrance, not in a box at a store.

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