In the morning, you sit down and open the newspaper, and before
you can even get your morning cup of coffee, you’re confronted
with a bloody body. Depending where in the world you wake up,
this may have happened to you before. Internationally, the
treatment of graphic imagery in the media varies greatly. Due to
different societal norms and ethical standards, the culture of a
country or region affects how a news organization might choose
to deal with a graphic photo or video. The most recent example
of this is how the media treated the death of former Libyan
leader, Muammar Gaddafi. The Poynter Institute looked at the
front pages of major U.S. and international newspapers the day
after Gaddafi’s death. Only seven of 424 U.S. papers showed a
large image of the bloody body of Gaddafi after his death on
their front page. And around a dozen more used small images of a
dead Gaddafi. Overall, a pretty small number. When looking
through the front pages of international papers on the Newseum’s
website, I found many mo