TheSkiffView
RESPECT
Don’t show captured until families know

With war come inevitable causalities. We knew that. We expected that. Yet we were still surprised at the gruesome images of dead American soldiers shown on television.

An Army convey was apparently ambushed in Southern Iraq Sunday, resulting in the capture of at least five soldiers and the death of several more. Video of the captured soldiers and close-up shots of the dead were shown on Iraqi state television and also on Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based network.

American networks have not shown full images of the dead, but some chose to air Iraqi interviews with the captured soldiers, some who appeared to be frightened and wounded. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram ran photos of the captured five, but noted that they hadn’t been officially identified by the Pentagon. The paper also told readers it would not publish disturbing images of those killed or captured by Iraqi forces.

During an interview on “Face the Nation” Sunday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, along with the rest of the nation, saw footage of the captured soldiers. A Pentagon spokesman asked the network not to show the soldiers’ faces. Later, the other networks agreed not to show the faces until families were notified.

War coverage is bound to incite debate. Do we want to know the realities of war, even if it includes the images of dead soldiers? Or do we want to keep the action at an arm’s length, by not getting close to the human toll that war takes?

However, identifying the dead or captured to mass television audiences before family members are notified crosses the line. Imagine sitting at home, watching the news because you have a family member serving in the military. You’re already nervous for their safety. Then imagine, seeing that loved one’s face as they’re interviewed by captors. They’re being asked for their name and hometown and obviously look frightened.

It apparently happened to one soldier’s mother.

That shouldn’t be a reality, even as we face the consequences of a television war.