To think newspapers should not print pictures of dead bodies being removed from homes in body bags.

[Eglu]

Daily Mail had a picture of Amy Winehouses body being taken from her home in a body bag. I'm sure others have printed it too.

I think it is awful for the family, completely insensitive and unnecessary to the reporting of the story.

I remember the same thing when Heath Ledger died.

What is the difference between a body bag and a coffin?
Why is one acceptable and the other isn't?
They both contain dead bodies.
Death is part of human existence whether we like it or not.

Auroraday wrote 'The media is out of control - even after all that has happened, they are still effectively free to print what they like in the name of "public interest" - it stinks, I agree'

Really? You think, on balance, freedom of the press is a bad thing??? I think it is a very very good thing . When you say 'out of control' who would you have control them?

It's a double-edged sword, isn't it, freedom of the press? Does that mean that editors and 'journalists' can write whatever they like, free of consequences? In which case, why complain about the phone hacking at all...

I don't read papers anymore; I'm not interested in the opinions of some self-seeking, malleable writer who can't stick to facts and has little or no grip on what constitutes abuse and has long forgotten what a priviledge it is to have the freedom to write without retribution.

I want facts, not opinions and I'm certainly not interested in 'celeb gossip'. That's it really. The public has a right to know about politicians' expenses and the like; that was journalism. Camping out to snap a bereaved person or celeb doing whatever banal thing they're doing - pointless and morally deficient.

I agree that the press, as it stands, is completely out of control and for what? Gossipy, nasty, scummy 'stories' that some people crave... great! Freedom of the press, marvellous thing.

yanbu - but really what else could we expect from the Mail?

Completely tasteless and disrespectful to her family.

Its not nice for the family , but maybe it will stop one teen from shooting up and ending up the same way?

I think its something that will always be shown even though its wrong and horrid for the family to see, i also found it upsetting that they showed pictures of the bodies in Norway (peoples children, brothers and sisters), so sad .

"What is the difference between a body bag and a coffin?
Why is one acceptable and the other isn't?
They both contain dead bodies. "

One is more dignified, a symbol of mourning and shows respect to the dead, the other is functional but not exactly the most dignified item.

Also, the context makes a difference.

A coffin is shown during the mourning, it is a way of saying goodbye.

A bodybag, heartless as this may sound, is just a method for removing remains. And, in the case of media photos, is shown not for remembrance or mourning, but out of a morbid fascination.

(Let's face it, part of the reason those photos are taken is in the vague hope an arm or something falls out.)

Fortunately I have never been in the unspeakably awful position of losing a child, but I think images of body bags would be the least of my concerns at that time.

"i also found it upsetting that they showed pictures of the bodies in Norway"

That's even worse :( that's really removing their dignity. There's no need for it.

All the pictures I've seen of the Norweigian victims have been pixellated.

Empusa - I personally don't read that much into it and don't find body bags that unpleasant. A small child's coffin is always a sad sight though.
I lived in India for a long time and am used to the sight of corpses being carried to the ghats for cremation. Death is much more a part of life there than it is here.

On the issue of media coverage, I thought the publication of a photo of a Norwegian boy begging for his life surrounded by corpses of his friends was despicable.
But I believe wholeheartedly in a free press.
We can't have it both ways.

I'd be interested to know what any MNers struggling with/recovering from alcohol or drug problems thinks.

Too often, the 'excesses' of the music industry are glamourised and portrayed as edgy and sexy and fun, and often they were with Amy Winehouse. But the sight of a bodybag seems to me a very potent way to portray the truth: drugs KILL and alcohol KILLS.

And that's the bit we all find hard to deal with.

It is not so much the insensitivity of the picture.....it is the laziness of it. It is an unnecessary photo, much like the Sun's habit of showing a library picture of a rabbit say, when there is a story about a rabbit. It adds nothing.

If the Sun was confined to text of readable size, the newspaper would only five pages thick.

I'd say that journalists that go along with these things are the product of a bullying management culture gone wrong. And there are many people cannot cope with it (I was one)

There are union guidelines about what is appropriate but as the union is not recognised by NI and other multinationals it is hard to say no. I also think 24 hour rolling news coverage affects editorial decisions at newspapers - if it's fit to broadcast, why is it not fit to print?

I think the subs at The Sun can do better than a picture of a rabbit Scurrey. I think The Sun is an excellent product, it gives readers what they want. I don't read it because it isn't what I want to read.

I suppose if you did need items explained in pictures then such a photo would be relevant. We get most of the dailies at work and I like to read through most of them when I get a chance.

it's total nonsense that seeing a picture of amy winehouse in a body bag is going to stop an addict in their tracks, and neither will it stop or "Hit home" to any young musicians messing about with drugs that this could potentially be their future (or lack of).

That, I'm afraid, is the justification that the daily mail would use for publishing the image.

we, as parents and adults, are abhorred by the imagery because we recognise our own mortality and the fragility of life for ourselves and our children. Our children, don't. I remember being 16 and feeling utterly immortal.

celebrities that die young are glamourised; they become more famous in death than in life and people become wistful about "what they might have been" had they not had an horrendous addiction that killed them. problem is what they might been is tom jones or cliff richard - live a long time, see their popularity wane and be of little interest to new audiences to their work. that doesn't take away from the talent of any of these individuals, but the media perception is skewed and therefore the received image of those people is changed.

it's a story as old as james dean would have been if he were alive now.

it is also very much part of this industry and though teens looking outside in might think it's a cool subculture, it's actually a pretty sad, dependent reality.

there are many more ways to put the message across to young people that drugs will kill you, than seeing a picture in the daily mail of amy winehouse in a body bag.

But isn't a picture of a bodybag the counterpoint to the idea that dying young is somehow glamorous (as long as you are a musician or an actor)?

I think that that picture is grim, and really disrespectful. People don't want the last image of her to be in a body bag

I think it's horrendous. They should have respect for both the deceased and their family. The gutter press truly is that. I don't buy them and never have, but so many, many people seem to be titilated by stories of others' pain that the miserable rags sell. I also don't want to be confronted by those sorts of images on the front pages, and I don't think children should have to see them either. Very upsetting.

With poor Amy they reported every minutiae of her disintegrating life as it happened and now they're going to do it over her death. Members of the so-called press seem to have lost touch with how it feels to lose a loved one it seems.

i bought my 1st sun today since phone hacking scandal came out and wished i hadn,t when i saw that picture. no need for it at all not to mention a story about how blake incarcerated again feels about her dying. will not be buying anything else with a mention of him in it. the assumption that she died from drugs is very frustrating

edam,

i think it just adds to her notoriety (sadly). the tabloids love to print celebrities in decay (both literally and metaphorically) and at the edge of sanity. To whit, it's just the most shocking image they could get their hands on to print and therefore sell more papers.

We had a girl in our locality who was murdered in horiffic circumstances. The media decended on the small rural village for days. We used the local primary school (which was on holiday at the time) as a place for the press, they were made tea and treated with every courtesy. But they were point blank refused to be allowed anywhere near the family's house, they were only allowed to film for a few brief seconds of the funeral procession. Nor where they allowed to film near the church of any part of the burial. These restrictions were put in place by the local people who very firmly explained to the journalists what was no go. The English press were visably miffed by this but had no other option. The press here in Ireland are no where near as intrusive.

i thought this was going to be about the mumsnetter bodybag, anyone know who i mean?

as for winehouse, lol at jls comment, "makes you realise you need to live life to the full"

But the point is that it doesn't matter whether is "educational" to print the picture, or to remind us that an overdose is "real" and a dead body is "real"! The point is that it's a picture of the dead body of someone's child, their precious daughter, and the parents have not given permission for her death to be used this way. It is almost certainly extremely distressing to them in a way that most people can hardly imagine. Why their rights don't trump the "rights" of people selling newspapers sickens me.

spiderpig - you may think that you wouldn't care, but you will never know how you will feel until you have been there. I found the (my) newspaper article extremely distressing. Lot of people say that they would do all sorts of things in extreme situations (I would fight off a rapist, I would leave an abusive husband, I would adopt rather than have IVF), but when push comes to shove, they realise that things happen completely differently. No-one knows.