Where Have We Seen (or not seen) This Before . . ?

From the Washington Post's White House Briefings:

The unforgettable televised images of suffering Americans left to fend for themselves were a shock to our sense of self. And the bringing out of the dead will be a continuing reminder of our shame. Assuming the public will be allowed to see it.

One way to cut down on the searing images of government failure, of course, is for the government to ban them.

Deborah Zabarenko writes for Reuters: "When U.S. officials asked the media not to take pictures of those killed by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, they were censoring a key part of the disaster story, free speech watchdogs said on Wednesday.

"The move by the Federal Emergency Management Agency is in line with the Bush administration's ban on images of flag-draped U.S. military coffins returning from the Iraq war, media monitors said in separate telephone interviews.

" 'It's impossible for me to imagine how you report a story whose subject is death without allowing the public to see images of the subject of the story,' said Larry Siems of the PEN American Center, an authors' group that defends free expression. . . .

"In an e-mail explaining the decision, a FEMA spokeswoman wrote: 'The recovery of victims is being treated with dignity and the utmost respect and we have requested that no photographs of the deceased by made by the media.' "

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Gail Shister notes that photographers may be able to circumvent the problem.

"FEMA has no official policy on photographing bodies, says agency rep Mark Pfeifle. It does, however, advise against the practice out of respect for the families of dead and missing loved ones, he says.

And the government "cannot prevent journalists in New Orleans from following FEMA's boats in their own vessels during recovery missions," says Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism.