The Role of the Press

Let me start by saying that I believe that any form of censorship over art should not be allowed. I understand that people have religious sensibilities to certain images but that should not affect the work of people who are not part of that religion. Images of Mohammed in western culture are generally looked down upon and have been censored from major animated t.v. shows such as Family Guy and South Park. I do not agree with this, I do however, understand that when it comes to news, there are different criterion for what should or should not be shown. Even with this in mind I think that the images should have been shown. These images were cited as the cause of an attack that killed 12 people, to not show them is to not show an integral part of what caused this tragedy. In my opinion, the purpose of news is to inform the audience about the truth of what is happening in the world. To change the news story with the purpose of not offending the audience is against the very purpose of what news organizations should be trying to do. I don't believe the images where in good taste but they were a form of comedy, and therefore art. People died because of the images they made and to censor these images while reporting about their death is to leave out a crucial part of the story. This also seems to send the message that these images shouldn't have been published in the first place. Nothing that anyone publishes warrants a violent response and to not publish these images when reporting the story is to say, 'these images really were bad, they shouldn't have been published in the first place'.