And Another One:

I've just been catching up on developments on the Home front and again on Monday (9th March) Post Courier have managed to outdo themselves and print another unsightly image on their front page. Read

Spowf is right, this is just bad taste. The deceased is someone's relative/brother/son and he and his family do not deserve to be treated this way.

Come on Post Courier and whoever your censors are, print a retraction or an apology and stop printing such bad images.

Violations of the General Code of Ethics for the News Media.

Both The National Newspaper and The Post Courier have over the years printed quite graphic images of criminals who have been either critically wounded or dead and featured them on their front pages.

As a reader I am firstly shocked, horrified and then angry that such images are allowed to be printed. Almost always I am left asking what the media gatekeepers are doing to ensure that some level of decency is maintained.

I've just read through the Media Council of Papua New Guinea's Code of Ethics for the News Media and smack bang on the 6th code is the following:

6. Taste and Decency

a) Care should be taken in presentation of content
that might distress or offend a significant proportion
of the public.

Both the Post Courier and The National are members of the Media Council and I wonder why these images aren't censored.

I understand that one reason may be that they want to use scare tactics to deter others from doing the same thing. But I also think that these crimes are an indicator of a number of social issues (e.g. disparities in wealth, high rates of unemployment) that need to be properly addressed by the State.