What to publish and what not to publish? Can anyone answer that perfectly?

This is the response I made to our school blog post. The post focused on a recent debate "at the Associated Press and other news agencies over the use of a graphic photo of an American Marine being tended to after being wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade. The Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, asked the AP not to run the photo out of deference to the family’s wish for privacy, but the AP published the photo anyway, citing a need to show 'the sacrifice and the brutality of war.' "


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Relating Articles:
Behind the Scenes: To Publish or Not?
"A Grieving Father's Plea For Out Troops" by John Bernard
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My response:

I'm sorry to disagree with most of the responses above, but I do agree with AP's decision to publish the photo. Personally, the photo didn't have a great impact on me until I read the whole story. And at that instant I remembered The Falling Man from 9/11. The photo was really conterversial across the U.S. continent; many parents had called in the publication office to tell them how wrong they were in making that decision. But I think what they did is correct. As the AP had said: "[...] the value of that image was to show the complexity, the sacrifice and the brutality of the war.”

To me the parents are angry and dismay at this kind of story because they feel like they are not doing enough for their child, that something should have been done but wasn't. I would scorn at the publication and tear up the newspaper article if the person was very close to me. But years later I will be treasuring that same torn piece of article, just because it was the reality. As one of the reader, John Doe, said: "This picture is evidence of the truth and the truth is bitter." Corporal Bernard's squad crew understood this, and that is why they asked Ms. Jacobson for all the photos she had taken on the squad. “None of them complained or grew angry about it” when they came across the dying image.

In addition, in response to the article, a mother of two active servicemen, Corina Silva, had said: "Living with the heartache of an extended deployment or worse is hard. Very hard." But in my opinion, rather than honoring and memorizing someone I love and died with all the glorious achievements he had made, I'd rather remember him as who he really is and what he had really went through, even if that process will torn my heart into pieces.

I don't know if many have followed up on Bloviating Hammerhead's blog, but in it there is the father's thoughts on the current U.S. military: "A Grieving Father's Plea For Our Troops." I'm really bad at inferring ideas, but I believe the father acknowledged AP's decision on publish the photo at the end.