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| April 17, 2004, Tami Silicio -- American Coffins This image shows the flag-draped coffins of American soldiers, returning to the United States after they were killed overseas in the war on terror. Would you run images like this? On front page of newspaper and on website: Journalists: 92% / Readers: 66% On inside page of newspaper and on website: On website only: Only link to an outside source from website: Journalists: 0% / Readers: 1% Would not run image at all: |
Since 1991, Pentagon policy has kept the media from photographing the caskets of American soldiers killed overseas. The ban became big news in 2004, when cargo worker Tami Silicio took a picture of flag-draped coffins in Kuwait, and it appeared in The Seattle Times.
Silicio was fired over the photo, but by then it had already run worldwide. A Freedom of Information Act request by Russ Kick of The Memory Hole website later gave the public access to photos of military caskets at Dover Air Force Base.
Journalists and readers overwhelmingly agreed that images like these need to be seen. If we are willing to go to war, we can't flinch at showing its cost. Eighty-three percent of readers and 98 percent of journalists would have printed photos of the flag-draped coffins.
"This impersonal image of the horrors of war is a proper reminder of the sacrifice involved in going after our enemies," said Robert Pabst, a reader from Winter Haven, Fla. "It helps us appreciate and support benefits for the wonderful people who are giving their all to protect us from those who would kill us all if they could."
Maureen Wallenfang, a journalist from Appleton, Wis., said the solemnity observed in these images is one of their most moving aspects. "These coffins contain our sons, daughters, spouses, parents, friends and neighbors. The image is powerful for two reasons: it not only emphasizes the human price of war, but it also shows, I believe, the remains being treated with respect and dignity on the final journey home."
The Pentagon says its policy protects grieving families, but survey respondents found that responsibility fulfilled by the difficulty of identifying the war dead.
"As a veteran myself, I don't think that the United States citizenry should be shielded from the actual horror affecting its military on a daily basis," said Dan Webster, a reporter from Spokane, Wash.
"This shows our respect to our fallen men and women," said Susan Swartz, a reader from Tempe, Ariz. "To hide their deaths makes it look as if we are ashamed of what we have done by going to war."