Would you like a picture of your death published on the front page of the Nation for all to see?
It is almost certain nobody would like to be remembered as a corpse, food for worms. It is undignified and dehumanising.
Don’t
worry. It is unlikely a picture of your dead body or yourself seriously
injured or dying with the mouth open, eyes open but unseeing, will
appear in the Nation any time soon. This is going by the post-Westgate
journalistic ethics that now seem to be in place.
But going by the Mpeketoni coverage, your image could appear in The People and The Star. On June 17, The People
published a picture of bloody corpses. I counted at least 10 bodies in
the colour picture, which was splashed full-length across the front
page. More gory pictures followed on pages 2, 3 and 7. The Star also splashed on its front page the picture of a dead body. More dead bodies appeared on pages 3 and 6.
That is not to say the two newspapers are necessarily wrong and the Nation right, along with The Standard that also avoided publishing pictures of corpses of the Mpeketoni massacre in which some 60 people were killed in cold blood.
It has always been hotly debatable whether the media should publish pictures of the dead and the dying.
IMAGES CONVEY REALITY
Those
who are against the practice argue that it is dehumanising to do so and
an insult to the dead. It is also traumatising and harmful to their
families and children.
Besides, in most cases it does
not add value or depth to the story. Only the media benefit from the
publication of such ghastly and harrowing images as they can sell more
papers to those readers who like to see blood, violence, and death.
Those
who favour the practice argue that it is not the job of the media to
honour or dishonour the dead. The job of the media is to report a story
as it happened, not to filter or censor reality.
The
images of death convey the reality on the ground. Besides, they argue,
publishing such graphic pictures sensitises readers about the tragedy.
The pictures may even provoke a conversation on what should be done to
prevent such tragedies.
The controversy is universal.
It is complicated because of differing cultures and mindsets. In
countries where violence is commonplace, pictures of death may not be so
upsetting. In others they may be distressing and sickening.
In
Kenya, the situation is worsened by tribal animosities. The publication
of the Mpeketoni death pictures may have brought cheer to some and
sorrow to others, as was evident from the reactions in the social media.
Still, the law is clear.
Publication
of photographs showing mutilated bodies, bloody incidents and abhorrent
scenes must be avoided unless the publication of such photographs
serves the public interest, according to the Code of Conduct for the
Practice of Journalism in Kenya.
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