Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Journalistic integrety and where to draw the line

Ayashe · 09-06-2009, 09:35 AM

For myself, it is a battle. I see the family of a now deceased soldier who felt revealing his final moments before death would be too personal, too painful and just too much. I can understand and relate to the family feeling that the death of their son was sensationalized, those last few moments of agony, him laying there with a blood clot in his heart, his legs blown to bits, feeling suffocated and knowingly dying.. not to want him remembered in this way. Here we have a soldier in some of his final moments, surrounded by his "brothers" a deeply personal event. An event that all who were there will remember as they think back on their days as soldiers. We have the military "family" back home who will remember him from church, from the military balls, from bumping into him at the local PX who are reminded of the mortality of their own soldiers who are battling doing who only knows what overseas.

I, myself find that I am walking along the rails of the fence. On one hand, the soldier and the family already made their sacrifice and I feel their wishes should have been honored. On the other hand, I know that as there has been a war going on for years, people are plugging away carrying on with their lives and seemingly have forgotten we are at war. I wish for them to be remembered and their stories told, yet I also have an urge towards protecting the family. I consider what I would want if I had died in the soldiers place, I think I would want my story told. I completely agree that journalism is a public service, it is a question on where you draw the line. I also have to ponder the unanswerable question, what would Lance Corporal Joshua M. Bernard have wanted? In all honesty, I wouldn't have blinked an eye on the photo being published if the request to be withheld hadn't been made by the family.

I can also see that I absolutely hated the depiction in the media. I turned off the television 3 years ago because in great part, I felt that soldiers were being dehumanized as it would be announced "3 casualties in a village north of Baghdad". You never heard a name unless the soldier hailed from your own hometown. You rarely ever heard the real accounts of what happened. When was the last time you heard of a soldier shooting off several rounds of ammo while being mortally wounded, defending his men until he succumbed to his wounds or was medi-vac'd from the field? You don't hear the stories of how they responded, how hard they fought, you just don't hear the story.. at all. More often you don't hear a thing until someone who was witness, a fellow soldier returns home and tells of what really happened.. assuming they can bear to. I believe I would want my story told.

I guess where I my personal battle lies with this is that I see two issues. An opportunity to to show that the war is real, the soldiers are real and to remind people that this isn't just a video game. These are real people, flesh and blood at stake. The second however is the issue that the request of the family was not honored and I personally find that very bothersome.

09-06-2009, 09:35 AM	#6 (permalink)
Ayashe Psycho	For myself, it is a battle. I see the family of a now deceased soldier who felt revealing his final moments before death would be too personal, too painful and just too much. I can understand and relate to the family feeling that the death of their son was sensationalized, those last few moments of agony, him laying there with a blood clot in his heart, his legs blown to bits, feeling suffocated and knowingly dying.. not to want him remembered in this way. Here we have a soldier in some of his final moments, surrounded by his "brothers" a deeply personal event. An event that all who were there will remember as they think back on their days as soldiers. We have the military "family" back home who will remember him from church, from the military balls, from bumping into him at the local PX who are reminded of the mortality of their own soldiers who are battling doing who only knows what overseas. I, myself find that I am walking along the rails of the fence. On one hand, the soldier and the family already made their sacrifice and I feel their wishes should have been honored. On the other hand, I know that as there has been a war going on for years, people are plugging away carrying on with their lives and seemingly have forgotten we are at war. I wish for them to be remembered and their stories told, yet I also have an urge towards protecting the family. I consider what I would want if I had died in the soldiers place, I think I would want my story told. I completely agree that journalism is a public service, it is a question on where you draw the line. I also have to ponder the unanswerable question, what would Lance Corporal Joshua M. Bernard have wanted? In all honesty, I wouldn't have blinked an eye on the photo being published if the request to be withheld hadn't been made by the family. I can also see that I absolutely hated the depiction in the media. I turned off the television 3 years ago because in great part, I felt that soldiers were being dehumanized as it would be announced "3 casualties in a village north of Baghdad". You never heard a name unless the soldier hailed from your own hometown. You rarely ever heard the real accounts of what happened. When was the last time you heard of a soldier shooting off several rounds of ammo while being mortally wounded, defending his men until he succumbed to his wounds or was medi-vac'd from the field? You don't hear the stories of how they responded, how hard they fought, you just don't hear the story.. at all. More often you don't hear a thing until someone who was witness, a fellow soldier returns home and tells of what really happened.. assuming they can bear to. I believe I would want my story told. I guess where I my personal battle lies with this is that I see two issues. An opportunity to to show that the war is real, the soldiers are real and to remind people that this isn't just a video game. These are real people, flesh and blood at stake. The second however is the issue that the request of the family was not honored and I personally find that very bothersome. __________________ I am only a little spoon in a huge world of soup.