Reuters tries to equate FEMA’s request that the press not photograph Katrina’s dead with the administration’s policy against allowing photographers to take pictures of flag-draped coffins coming home from Iraq. I don’t agree with the government’s position in either case, but I also think there’s a huge double-standard that’s not getting reported: The news media’s refusal to show pictures of 9/11, and its refusal to show pictures from Saddam’s torture rooms when they were uncovered last summer. The media have the power to show or to not show images to the public, and thereby manipulate public opinion. Yet when the government asks them to show some respect, they wail about free speech. As I said, I disagree with the government’s position. But I certainly understand it.