Decency, Celebrity, and News

MSNBC.com’s Courtney Hazlett highlights the new OK! magazine cover, with a photo of the late Michael Jackson on its cover. She questions the magazine’s editorial decision to run the picture of Mr. Jackson “which shows him lying on a stretcher, possibly already dead.”

Says Ms. Hazlett, 

Every day, news organizations around the world make decisions about decency, respect and the best way to tell a story. It’s a responsibility that bears incredible weight, regardless of the perceived “weightiness” of the subject matter. Just because you have a photo — or have the dollars to throw at acquiring it — doesn’t mean it’s appropriate to run it.