Front pages of papers - so mad!

[harrisey]

I am so mad with today's press. When my usual Guardian arrived today I found myself floundering to explain to my ds (4) what the picture on the front was about. It was the dead body of Al-Zarqawi!
Now I know this is news but heck, I didnt really want to have to explain American 'justice' to a little boy who is not yet even at school. You would think they could take a little more care with their front page - this image could much more tastefully have been shown inside the paper (if we needed to see it at all - I beleive he is dead without then having to show me his face).
It just seems a bit distasteful - and I want to know how they would choose to explain it to a 4yo! So I emailed them!

and indeed, lol Jan.

But it would be a very tasteful paper Edam!! - c'mon let me go now, I want to look at some other threads whilst I have a few minutes to spare

I can see your point harrisey - the papers are being sensationalist. AND they are following the US political line on this, rather than their own. I'd reason the pic isn't for us to see that he's dead, it's to outrage people who might sympathise with him, to humiliate him in death. To 'send a mesage' to other enemies of the west.

I agree with beetle- it's a bit precious to get worked up about a picture of a dead man on the front of a newspaper when Iraqi children of the same age are living this hell (what was it 1000 killed in baghdad in the last month?)

I do sympathise harrisey but I'm just not sure that adult newspapers should have to take children into account when editing pictures. I think it's up to the parents to do the "editing" so to speak.

There are some things I would find offensive and unacceptable in any publiaction, but this country is at war, and people need to know what that means.

i agree with saadia, broadsheets are one place where surely these pics can be published. Reality of war is death, it brings it home that this is happening.

What's happening in Iraq is so awful, and we are so insulated from it here. When ds1 was at mainstream he had an Iraqi girl in his class. Obviously I haven't seen her mum for ages (ds1 left theschool a year and a half ago), but last time I spoke to her she was so worried about her family in Baghdad.

I don't like the sensationalism of "we killed the bad guy", but I was shocked to hear the 1000 people are being killed each month in Baghdad.

Good for you Harrisey taking some action. We all ought to take a leaf from your book and complain a little more as the images our kids are subjected to. I remember a few weeks back a thread on nudity on front page of magazine in a display box by the till in the garage at just the right height for tiddlypeeps to see. I faced this same mag just a week later with ds standing there so i physically moved the whole stand and faced it the other way. Nobody said anything and no doubt it was moved back once I had paid and left.

I agree harrisey! I think it's worse when they carry photos of dead or injured children. I don't want my children to see these photos. I would worry they get scared, but also de-sensitised. You can sensor the papers at home, but then you cannot pop into a news agent or a supermarket with your children either.....Some of these photos are upsetting enough for adults.....

Why not direct the enrgy into complaining about the war in iraq? People are dying, whether your children see a photo of them or not. Iraqi children know that because they're dying too.

southeastastra, I don't need to bring the reality of war home to my 4 year-old......

"The picture is also published so that his followers know he is dead and don't think it is made up"

What a load of b*llocks. You can do pretty much anything with Photoshop type programmes these days. If they don't want to believe he's dead, they won't whether there's a picture or not.

"Reality of war is death, it brings it home that this is happening"

Again, b*llocks. What happens when pictures of dead people are published is that we become immune to them. Look at the FHM covers for example and imagine these appearing on the shelf say 20 years ago. They would have been shocking, now they're common place and, tbh, barely cause a stir.

Pictures of the dead serve no purpose other than to pander to the ghoulishness of readers. Words can describe the story far better. The fact that the man is dead is, in a way, a very small part of this story. The main story is surely who he was and what he did.

its a hard one, admitted i havent seen the paper, maybe not on the front page.

jimjam, I take your point but i fear it will fall on deaf ears. They are not necessarily being killed by the military but their own countryman with differing views. I dont know where to start with that, its like Ireland all over again.

But your 4 year old doesn't need to read the paper. I want to know what's going on in the world, not some sanitised kuiddie disneyland version.

What I find really strange about this, is the horror you are feeling that your children get a glimpse of one dead man on a front page (and become what desensitised or scared) but you don't seem to mind at all that Iraqi children are living this. It doesn't even seem to register. Weird.

oh I agree tenalady, that's true, but we do have some responsibility in kick starting it all.

I don't know I find it so odd that people can get quite so upset over one picture, when children are living in horror over there. It just seems remarkably precious.

I've not seen it either :o My objections are to the whole idea of pictures of corpses.

Children, in fact, are generally less freaked out by death because they don't truly understand it. Not at 4 anyway.

the worse thing is, we are so powerless to stop any of this aren't we?

Ahhh, SD the FHM mag and the like, apparantly do cause a stir internally its just nobody want to complain about them. If I see a scantily clad figure or boobies on full parade, my mind still registers shock, then disgust but I feel my moaning wont make any difference so I choose to ignore. Probably not good enough, cos whilst we are not doing much about it we are preparing the future for acceptance of far worse images, which is what has happened today. If we dont complain now who knows what images we will be subjected to, live beheading maybe!

yes southeasterea- it's not just the death of iraqi's, this household has been affected by the death of a serviceman in Iraq (don't want to say anymore), and it's just such a waste, such an utter waste.

i don't think i could ever become immune to pictures of the dead, to be honest.

Wheres Mary Whitehouse when you want her, God rest her dear little soul.

Da Da!

imjamskeepingoffvaxthreads, you can be upset about the horrors in Iraq and still wish to keep your children blissfuly ignorant about all the terrible suffering which goes on in the world. My children have been to anti-war protests and know about the war. However, some of these photos are just too explicit. I know my children and I know it's not a good idea for them to see photos of children bleeding on a beach in Gaza. They don't read the papers and we never watch the news with them in the room, but I shoulod be able to go to a newsagent with them without them seeing photos of dead people on the front page of the newspaper.

Sorry did I frighten you, didnt really like taking on Mary Whitehouse especially as she is no longer with us. It felt a bit creepy.