for example, images and graphic descriptions of war are often violent, bloody, shocking and profoundly tragic. this makes certain content disturbing to some audience members, but it is precisely these aspects of war that some consider to be the most important to convey. some argue that "sanitizing" the depiction of war influences public opinion about the merits of continuing to fight, and about the policies or circumstances that precipitated the conflict. the amount of explicit violence and mutilation depicted in war coverage varies considerably from time to time, from organization to organization, and from country to country.