It is safe to say that anyone old enough to comprehend what happened in New York City and Washington on Sept. 11 will never forget the day.

The reasons are obvious: it has been the most extreme terrorist attack in America in our lives and has changed the world, not to mention our country, for what will prove to be a long time.

But as the images of the terrorist attacks began flowing across television screens and newspapers throughout the nation, some editors made tasteless decisions to sensationalize the event.

The New York Daily News came under fire – and has since defended its actions – for running various photos including a color shot of a severed hand at the World Trade Center and a picture of a woman jumping to her death from the top floor of one of the towers.

Several newspapers also ran an Associated Press photo of a person falling from one of the towers and received negative feedback from their readers.

And well they should have.

Though it is often a fine line when trying to determine what is and what is not fit to print, editors failed to realize what they were doing was not only wrong and in poor taste, but it was disrespectful.

Pictures or videos of dead bodies or body parts or of people committing suicide have no redeeming social value whatsoever.

Plenty of other images were able to communicate the horror of Sept. 11 and there was no reason to spoonfeed these images to the public.

These media outlets should have realized the focus belonged on the people that are still alive and how they are dealing with their lost brothers and sisters.

Hopefully, next time these organizations are faced with a similar decision they won’t let their readers down again.