Abstract

News photographers are increasingly involved in selling the news at anyone's expense, exploiting grief for a profit Camera crews are becoming increasingly brazen, entering not only the funeral home, but the casket as well, crashing through the walls of privacy that have traditionally and morally protected the right of all individuals to grieve in the privacy of their own emotions. Depictions of tragedy per se are contentious, but depictions of grieving survivors are even more so. A limited but increasing amount of discussion of photographing grief is found in the professional literature, but media codes fail to make specific recommendations relative to the problem. This essay maintains that if corrective measures are not taken within the industry, courts may soon redefine the nature of privacy law, interpreting such photos of grief as violations of ordinary decencies. The problem should be addressed while it is still an ethical rather than a legal issue, according to the author