CIME Blog: Publishing the photo of dead Gaddafi

* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Many news outlets around the world, both print and online, published photos and even videos of the dead Lybian dictator. The opinions are contradictory as some claim that people have the right to see the proof of his death while others think it is disturbing and disrespectful. One can argue if he deserves any respect afterall. We can question if it was really necessary. Does it make readers happy to see those pictures? What happens to the children who are exposed to the front page photos of newspapers on the street and homepages of websites? I suppose if you have children you would not sit down and show them these pictures by yourself explaining how goos it is that a dictator was killed. In better cases, the pictures or videos are only viewable after a warning for disturbing content. At least those who do not want to see them would not be bothered. It is really unpleasant when you open your browser and the first thing you are confronted with is an irritating photo. The death of Osama Bin Laden caused the same dilemma in May 2011 where president Obama decided not to release the photos to the public. Copyright 2011 by Centre for International Media Ethics. All worldwide rights reserved.