Media responsible for publication of photos of child nudity
For those who have not already caught this story, a row broke out last week when an art gallery in Paddington, Sydney, put on display (and on their website) images that many people would consider to be child pornography (see the article “Moral backlash over sexing up of our children” by Miranda Devine in the Sydney Morning Herald).
When the entire collection was online (now removed), at least one of the images was a full frontal nude shot of a young teenage girl (13 years old). The Melbourne newspaper The Age took it upon itself to reproduce one of the images of one of the young girls, topless, in an article in apparent support of the “artist”. The article, “The controversial career of Bill Henson”, on the website of The Age, included the topless photo of a young teenager, but this was removed following calls by Protectionists on the Australian Identity Forum, and via email campaigning, for people to lodge formal complaints. The photo’s removal was a victory for those who believe that nude photos of children should not be displayed in the media.
