Strange Famous

I guess this is a freedom of speech question.

CBS broadcast pictures of Diana Princess of Wales as she lay dying after a car wreck in France in 1997... I guess I just wonder, is there NO right to privacy, is there no barriers of good taste?

I dont want to be anti-US, and that isnt the point of this thread, but if the morality of America is horrifyed by a glimpse of Janet Jacksons breast, how can people at the same time accept such a grossly indecent invasion of privacy, and something so terribly hurtful to her family - to for the sake of entertainment showing pictures of someone dying?


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3647849.stm

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Forsaken

One word ---- MONEY

CBS will make money from showing the pictures. Plain and simple.

By the way I am an American and I think that showing the pictures is in extremely bad taste and I have not nor will I look at them.

Blackthorn

You make a fabulous point that CBS would freak out over a living nipple (star covered but a nipple none-the-less) and then display these images if a dying woman suffering from an incredible car chase and crash. Quite hypocritical in my opinion.

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Cynthetiq

please note the CONTEXT it was shown in, they interviewed the doctor that was treating her for 48 hours a news magazine.

IMO it's very relavent.

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Strange Famous

The context is the context, maybe it did fit in with the show, I still dont find it appropriate to show for entertainment photo's of someone dying... I believe this is a violation of the privacy of her family, I am certain it is deeply hurtful to her family, any point they wished to make could have been made without the pictures, and I feel that anyone finding satisfaction or entertainment from watching pictures of someone die is unusually ghoulish.

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"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Kaos

Not appropriate. And I don't want to see anyone lying there dying in a car accident, not ever her.

sixate

I don't have a problem with seeing boobs or death on my TV.
I want to see it all.

Speed_Gibson

never have seen footage, and I did not care when she died and do not care about it now either. I feel more of a loss watching things on Grace Kelly's death in 1982 then I ever will about Diana. But I would look at such footage in a heartbeat; I would look at things like the Faces of Death videos (great stuff there) and rotten.com all day.

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KellyC

Yep. I have no problem either. If I don't like what I'm seeing, I can just change the channel or turn off the tv.

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animosity

if you dont like something you see... dont watch it. simple as that.

StormBerlin

I think you guys are missing the point. It isn't about what YOU think about her being shown right after the accident, it's about the families right to privacy and displaying what happened in poor taste. I don't think the family could give a shit about what YOU thought about it.

I personally thought it was out of line and disheartening.

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Speed_Gibson

very true but "good taste" is usually the first casualty now when "ratings" and "money" come into play. I do have no clue what context this was shown in though.

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guthmund

They showed it because they knew people would watch it and it's going to make them money.

It's really that simple. Of all the people who complain about the "appropriateness" and "decency" of the photo, the vast majority are still tuning in to watch it.

We seem to have no problem with shows like CSI and Law & Order. They show mutilated dead folks all the time. Sure it's "Hollywood" violence and the people aren't really real (although you wouldn't imagine that by reading the message boards and such )

The only reason this is making a stink is because Princess Diana was a pretty nice and famous lady. And no matter how much America whines about it, they'll still make a point a see it.

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Asuka{eve}

I frown on this

Speed_Gibson

<offtopic>
I happened to catch most of that episode referenced in your Avatar/title on a grave shift, guthmund and I thought that it was f'ing hilarious.
</offtopic>

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Poloboy

It may be hypocritical of CBS to air this without hesitation, and be in outrage about the Superbowl "incident", but is it not also hypocritical to criticize censorship endlessly following Jackson's nipple display, and then cry out for stronger censorship in this case?

Also - this is not an isolated case. Dead people are aired on the news frequently. It's hard to watch the latest Iraq footage without them sneaking in a body here or there. Why are the families of these victims less important than the Princes William and Harry? Should their non-regal status comparitively demote their rights?

In no way am I defending the actions of the CBS. I was saddened by the death of Diana, and don't appreciate stations glorifying her death for marketing purposes, but I thought I'd expose some different ways of looking at the situation.

bernadette

sad to say it, but i'd probably watch this if i happened to have the tv on when it was airing.
i certainly wouldn't be asking to see this, but if it was there in front of my face, no, i wouldn't look away.

still... i do think it is tacky & disrespectful to any family, to broadcast their loved ones like this.

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analog

If you believe the context was correct, why would you then say that it was "for entertainment"? That makes no sense.

If you want to debate the issue of these pictures, I don't think bringing up janet jackson's boob will help in any way. The shock of her boob was caused by it NOT BEING APPROVED, and being generally inappropriate with regard to those who were watching it. Neither of those points have anything to do with context. These pictures were approved to be aired beforehand and are ALL about the context in which they were used.

If you blindly stamp this as "for profit", then where do you hold back that stamp on other issues?

I suppose you would put your "for profit" stamp on all the news coverage of our (America's) national tragedy on 9/11/01, in which some 3,000+ people were captured losing their lives.

Journalistic context. You seem to dismiss this notion immediately as though it were not important.

Aletheia

Speed_Gibson

If I try to mentally place myself in the situation where I had a father/brother/son/daughter/wife/mother that was killed in such a fashion, it might very well offend me to see it on television like that. Hard to say without actually going through it, as I can be incredibly calloused emotionally. (i.e. never shed a tear or became excessively angry over 9/11 aside from the %$#&*ing bandwagon patriots but I did not know or lose anyone close to me either)
----
If it was someone like royalty/celebrity status who was closely related to me, then it would not shock or surprise me but that in no way lessens the potential emotioanl damage still.

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sixate

I'm not missing the point.
If I was caught on tape being killed or whatever, so what. Show it on Prime-time for all I care. I'll be dead anyway, and won't know the difference. And I won't know what my family thinks either... Because, again, I'm dead.

But I guess I don't care because I don't believe in god/afterlife/having a soul.

tecoyah

CBS shows Dianna pics, everybody gets pissed. Bush wont even let people take pictures of the hundreds of flag draped coffins streaming in from Iraq, nobody gives a shit.

Priorities people.

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Redjake

no, you are definitely missing the point StormBerlin is saying that your family would possibly find it offensive to find your dead body on television, specifically on a big station. He said in his post he didn't care what YOU thought You just explained what YOU thought; that you didn't care. But it doesn't matter what you think, because you are dead. It matters what your family thinks. You missed the point.

My question is, do you think your mother or father would care? I think they would.

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seretogis

Media outlets should know better than to show such footage, in either case. It's unfortunate that CBS is so money-hungry as to air this kind of disgusting material, and that some people are so deranged to want to see it. It flies in the face of any definition of civilization -- what's next, watch executions on TV? Maybe we can put two people in an arena and watch lions tear them to pieces! What great entertainment that will be!

Needless to say, I won't be watching CBS.

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sixate

Well, you don't know my family... Why would my family care? They aren't a bunch of pussies. For the most part they're just like me. The reason people care is because of religious crap most of the time. Nobody in my family believes in shit they can't see. So they wouldn't care what was being done with my body or who sees it. Trust me, I've had this conversation with most of them.

qtpye4u84

I heard something of the sort on the news, I know some ppl would want to watch for sure, like my brother. What ppl do for money these days.

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Gortexfogg

What about photos of dead bodies in war documentaries and crime documentaries? Nobody makes a fuss over those. Showing the photograph is protected under the first amendment. I don't find anything wrong with it. Yes, it probably sucks for the family to see their loved on dying on television, but that's life.

Redjake

no reason to get defensive, I was just explaining how you took StormBerlin's point completely wrong. and since when did showing emotion turn someone into a pussy? I would feel rather uncomfortable and emotional and sad if I saw my dead mother or father on television. does that make me a pussy?

lighten up it seems you make comments just to be able to argue back when someone doesn't like it. like you are doing it on purpose or something. maybe it's just me

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Hanxter

following the death of dale earnhardt, his family fought hard to keep the media from obtaining his autopsy photos... and won in court...

did the family know in advance cbs was going to air it? for i feel had they known their attorneys would most certainly have stepped in with an injunction...

i see no malice... just bad taste for the sake of sensationalism and ratings...

personally, i find the television media has gone down the shitter with what they call human interest stories... such a katie couric (sounds like a cat hawking up a hairball) interviewing a 10 year old kid whose just lost his brother in iraq asking, "how do you feel now that your brother is dead?"

who says i'm interested - get the fuck out of my house and die

*Nikki*

Anyone got a link to the pics??

IMHO I don't think its wrong. She was in a very public place and she has now passed on.

Her body was just a shell. Her soul is gone.

Cynthetiq

Seems that it's made the front pages since someone else files a FOIA request last year...

link

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denim

Y'know, I just tried to add you to my "ignore" list. Unfortunately, you're a moderator so I can't. I'll just have to try my best to ignore you by hand.

stevie667

As a brit myself, i do take offense to the way in which the pictures have been broadcast like this. The princess touched alot of peoples lives, and to show those pictures really desecrates her memory in a way in which you can't express with words.
Yes i am biased towards the subject, but so is just about every englishman, the whole subject just isn't something you take lightly, and thats exactly what CBS is doing.

it's distasteful in every respect.

viejo gringo

Here in deep south Texas...or northern Mexico, as it is sometimes called. ...we have a number of TV channels that are in Mexican--not spanish...some of the news is local, and some of it is from the interior of Mexico, and other southern coutries....and it is quite graphic.....when they tell you he was shot betwwen the eyes, you know it is true because they show it.

They have even shown people dead hanging out of trucks that have been sprayed with bullets....the point is...

if you don't want to see it just turn away or close your eyes....

I don't see the difference between actual death and make-believe-death....as long as the killing is not glorified, and makes someone look tough....we have a few of those----they are waiting their turn on death row.

shalafi

Maybe its just me but it seems like alot of people these days are constantly on a quest to find something new to be offended by. I just dont get it.

water_boy1999

Try harder. He is entitled to his opinion. Let it rest please.


The media has been sensationalizing death for as long as I can remember. We don't all get our panties in a bunch when we see some dead drug dealer or bank robber on the 10 O'Clock news, but when royalty comes into play, we think it is somehow different. I agree that CBS is doing this for entertainment value and ratings, but so what? Every network station has some sort of news program that shows death on an almost daily basis. We all should be numbed by this by now and the airing of her pictures should be no surprise to anyone! But it does. Now why is that?

Personally, I am not offended by it. I would probably watch it too. I don't think it is in bad taste because I would be a hypocrite, namely because I don't think the daily news I see is in bad taste.

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Yakk

As a completely tangental comment, I was glancing at the list of posts, and misread "dying" as "dog".

I need help.

Continue with your regulary schedualed thread.

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Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.

denim

I'm not talking about this particular topic, but about his general behavoir. You'll note that I chopped out the topic-sensitive response he made, 'cause it wasn't important to me.

To me, "Diana Princess of Wales" made no real difference in the world. Compare her to Mother Theresa. OTOH, I see no problem with showing T&A on TV.

Hanxter

a military contractor has fired tami silicio, a kuwait-based cargo worker whose photograph of flag-draped coffins of fallen U.S. soldiers was published in sunday’s edition of the seattle times....

silicio was let go yesterday for violating U.S. government and company regulations, said william silva, president of maytag aircraft, the contractor that employed silicio at kuwait international airport along with her husband who was also fired...

her photograph, taken earlier this month, shows more than 20 flag-draped coffins in a cargo plane about to depart from kuwait. ...

since 1991, the pentagon has banned the media from taking pictures of caskets being returned to the states to protect the privacy of the families...



link

but it's still being published and they still show it on tv...

who's running the show, folks???

the media

StormBerlin

I understand what you're saying, but I still think you're missing the point. No one knows if Diana cares about her being shown that way. The point is what her family thinks... they're the ones that are still alive and get to relive her death over and over again.

Even if I do believe in God, I don't think I would care about me once I died...

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