Public Enemy #1 Captured and Dead- Are You Satisfied?

Inappropriate headlines on newspapers and magazines are causing readers to question the journalistic integrity of their news sources.

On May 1^st, 2011 President Barack Obama publically announced that Osama Bin Laden was shot and killed inside a private compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALs. Bin Laden, founder of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, has been on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list since his involvement in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in East African cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. On September 2, 2001, Bin Laden spearheaded a series of suicide attacks by al-Qaeda on the United States of America. Hijackers crashed airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and, in a field in rural Pennsylvania. There were no survivors from any of the flights and nearly 3,000 victims died in the attacks.

Osama Bin Laden’s death is undoubtedly a huge feat in the USA’s War Against Terrorism. More importantly, for those who lost family and friend during the 9/11 attacks, his death brings closure.

Pressing questions have been brought to surface since the death of Bin Laden. Will there be a retaliation attack?  Why was the body buried at sea? Why are no pictures being released of his body post-mortem? As opposed to responding to these fair questions being asked by civilians, journalists have chosen a more bias, unprofessional stance in using their newspapers and magazines as a forum for expressing personal and inappropriate opinions that aids in flushing their journalistic integrity down the drain.

Headlines like “Bin Bagged”, “We Got the Bastard” or “Rot in Hell” have covered the front of newspapers in North America, including the Ottawa Sun’s May 2nd cover which read, “Burn in Hell”. As a society, we have condemned this man for the violence and hate he has promoted and enforced against American’s, Canadian’s and even his own followers. Now that he is deceased, why is the media perpetuating this hate?

Civilians are demanding to see pictures of Bin Laden’s body post-mortem due to the supposed ambiguity surrounding his death and the burial he received. Simply put, there are some people who do not believe he is dead and would like proof. Well, here is all the proof you are going to get.

The white house insists that following a DNA test, they are 99% sure the body belonged to Osama Bin Laden. The fact that Bin Laden was buried so quickly coheres with Islamic tradition that states a deceased body must be buried within twenty-four hours.  Why at sea? Firstly, it would have been very difficult to find a country that would be willing to take the remains of a man who was widely disliked. Also, by choosing a burial at sea, the method ensures that there would be no gravesite that could turn into a shrine or a place of worship for Bin Laden’s followers and other terrorists.

Whether one chooses to believe the previously mentioned facts is a personal opinion, however, a violent picture of a man shot several times in the head and tabloids that encourage this violence perpetuate the hatred we loathe in terrorist like Bin Laden. President Obama’s decision to not circulate pictures of Bin Laden post-mortem is in my opinion, a good one. Besides, had he chosen to release pictures, would certain people still be questioning their authenticity anyways?  What do you think?