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BBC’s Jeremy Bowen says there is a time place to show ‘dead bodies of kids’ on TV news

By Dominic Ponsford

BBC Middle East Jeremy Bowen has revealed that the corporation has received “plenty of complaints” from BBC viewers about the lack of images of dead bodies in its conflict reports.

He told The Independent: “I say we are trying to spare the viewer’s feelings and they say you are covering up the truth – the truth is that kids are being blown to bits.”

Bowen, who suffered minor injuries after being hit by shotgun pellets fired by Egyptian security forces last year, was named News Television Journalists of the Year at the RTS Awards last month.

He said: “You can show the effect on the living, the sadness. But I think there is a time and a place sometimes to show dead bodies, dead bodies of kids.”

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