Go Ahead - Offend My Sensitivities

CJR Daily addresses self-censorship by the networks in relation to the catastrophe in New Orleans:

"The sanitation was unbelievable. The stench in there ... was unbelievable. Dead people around the walls of the convention center, laying in the middle of the street in their dying chairs where they died, right there on their lawn chair. They were just covered up in their wheelchair, covered up, laying there for dead. Babies, two babies dehydrated and died. I'm telling you, I couldn't take it."

Then followed an extraordinary exchange -- not included in the transcript of the interview on MSNBC's Web site -- well worth noting. Stewart mentioned that many of the images Zumbado had shot of the dead and dying "couldn't" be run on the air. Zumbado added that there was much more footage that he could have shot but did not, precisely because he knew it would never make it on the air.

I think in situations like this the media has an obligation to offend our delicate sentitivities, to motivate the public and our "political leaders" to prevent this type of thing from happening again.