Sites handle Saddam's sons' photos differently

Most major news sites published warnings and forced viewers to click through to see the graphic photos of Saddam's dead sons. BBC News Online, CBSNews.com and Foxnews.com all published the photos as lead art on their cover. The New York Times linked directly to the photos from the cover but gave no warnings, and also put the photos directly on the story with no warning. Nearly every site published the photos. What was the right approach? Should sites have published warnings and forced readers to click to see the graphic images? Post your comments in our discussion area.

Related CyberJournalist.net headline: "Slate warns readers of explicit slide show"

Here's a list of what major news Web sites published the photos of the bodies of Saddam's sons, and where, that Steve Yelvington posted to Poynter's Online News e-mail list (with a few additions)

Used on home page
CBS News
Providence Journal
BBC News
The Telegraph, UK
The Guardian, UK
The Times, UK
The Independent, UK
El Mundo, Spain
El Pais, Spain
Die Welt, Germany
Al Jazeera
AP's Custom Wire service
Boston Herald

Used inside
MSNBC.com
CNN.com
ABCNews.com
FoxNews
USA Today
NYTimes.com
WashingtonPost.com
LATimes.com
ChicagoTribune.com
SFGate.com
SeattleTimes.com
StarTribune.com
All KnightRidder network sites
All Morris communications sites
NJ.com
NOLA.com
Dallas Morning News
AJC.com
Le Figaro
Jerusalem Post

No photos
Christian Science Monitor
International Herald Tribune
Boston Globe

July 24, 2003 | BY JONATHAN DUBE