Reuters Defends Publishing Gruesome Photos

President Obama decided not to release the photos of Osama bin Laden’s dead body because he is worried it might cause backlash and incite extremists. Reuters must not be worried about that though, because yesterday it published several gruesome photos (warning: they are very graphic) of three men lying in pools of blood. The photos are allegedly from the aftermath of the raid on bin Laden’s compound.

Because of the nature of the photos, Reuters is now defending its right to publish them. A Spokesperson told The Huffington Post that the matter is “of global importance:”

As this is a story of global importance, Reuters chose to share these photographs with its media clients and allow them to make editorial decisions on how they were used.

Reuters is right – the story is of global importance. Not photos of three unidentified dead men. There’s nothing to be gained by publishing them other than page views, and they know it. They just can’t say that.

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