Pictures evoke more emotion, and therefore more likelihood for action than words and numbers in an article ever could. Newspapers should certainly be able to print emotionally triggering photos to get the full effect for certain articles.
The role of newspapers is to show the public what is happening across the world. Newspapers should be allowed to print whatever it choses to as long as it can justify the content. If it is graphic, it should then have sufficient warnings.
If a gruesome picture is the best way to describe something, so be it. We need to stop sugarcoating the gruesome reality that the world we live in experiences everyday.
Of course if the picture was one of my family members or loved one, I would hate that picture to be posted, but at the end of the day, it’s about the bigger picture and not just myself. It would be the right thing to do by not hiding what is really going on in the world or making it seem like it isn’t a big deal when it really is.
Unlike graphic websites, where disclaimers warn the viewers of violent content, newspapers have no such warning. It is hard not to pay attention to the gruesome pictures when it is plastered over the front page to catch the reader’s attention. So of course, I feel there should be a level of rawness to make the article or story much more powerful, and draw in more readers.
The public see much worse on television than we could ever see in real life, so why not? Posting gruesome pictures can help lower criminal rate in the United States, It will desensitize people to violence, because they will see what really happens when someone is shot, blown up or burnt.
The worst case scenario is when young kids have to see the unpleasant photos of guts pouring out from being shot to death, but this is exactly the point of scare tactics. It is to make the youth see what it looks like to kill someone. Hopefully, it will instill in them the reality of what it means to hurt someone else and ultimately prevent them from committing a crime like that.
Although it does show the true realities of war, you learn to be unbiased and emotionally detached from the issue of times. It also does depend on what you want to convey and what impact you want to impose. Making sure your audience understands the reason behind the photo solidifies the point and gets it across.