CNN Criticized for Airing Graphic Photo of Dead Woman

CNN came under fire Friday for airing a photo posted to Facebook of the bloody body of a young Florida woman allegedly killed by her husband.

The photo of the body of Jennifer Alfonso led the CNN report on her murder and stayed onscreen for several seconds. The photo of the woman bloodied and splayed on her kitchen floor aired a second time in the same report.

Some immediately criticized CNN for the focus on the photo. Dominic Patten of Deadline Hollywood was one of those critics.

“I was surprised to see CNN this morning air a gruesome dead body for around 30 seconds,” Patten said in a Friday posting.

Patten went on to criticize CNN for this “grisly” turn in broadcasting. “I wonder if the TV ratings war is what’s prompting these moves. It does give Jeff Zucker’s pledge to more broadly define what is news a grisly edge,” he wrote.

Police have charged Alfonso’s husband Derek Medina with murder, which Medina claims happened during a domestic dispute. After he allegedly shot and killed her, he apparently took the shocking photo and posted it to his Facebook page telling friends and family that he’d killed the woman.

The CNN video now carries a warning for “graphic content” at its beginning.

Photo courtesy of Facebook