After reading the Monday edition of The West Australian, I noticed an all too common trick used by the media.

This would be the photo of a grieving family, heads hung in sorrow, paraded before the photo lense. I, for one, am sick and tired of it. I have no doubt that a family is currently in the proccess of mourning for a loved one or family member, but to go in front of a camera and display these emotions in a staged fashion - and for what!

Whenever I see a photo like this attached to newspaper stories I cringe and personally lose all sense of sympathy for the victims. Once these photos are used the story seems unbelievable and almost as if the family has an secondary motive.

Why do the families need stage these photo shoots, why does the journo feel it will add to the story and what the hell is the newspaper doing by publishing them?