At the end of May, when we got wind of a controversial new exhibit at Ala Moana Center, we played the news story of "Bodies ... The Exhibition" at the top of Page One because of the unusual circumstances surrounding the display.

Some on the Mainland and in other countries have protested the exhibit, which showcases preserved cadavers and body parts in various athletic poses and provides a look at their muscular, reproductive, respiratory and circulatory systems. New York's attorney general has accused Premier Exhibitions, the organizer, of using executed Chinese prisoners in the display.

The Atlanta-based company reached a settlement with the state of New York that requires the company to post notices stipulating that the exhibit displays human remains of Chinese citizens provided by the Chinese Bureau of Police and that in some cases they are unable to verify that the bodies did not come from Chinese prisons. Premier also agreed to try to document the cause of death and origin of the bodies and to get consent from the deceased beforehand to have their remains displayed.

The story that ran on May 30 documented the controversy and quoted the chairman of the University of Hawai'i's medical school as questioning Premier's methods of obtaining remains. Though some people on our online message board said they objected to the exhibit, there was very little other media coverage and no outcry. Ala Moana Center said it had no plans to pull the exhibit, which started June 14 and runs through the end of the year. In the first two days of the exhibit, some 2,350 tickets were sold.

When we ran an up-close photo on Page B1 of one of the cadavers the day before the opening, several people objected. A former Advertiser editor said the photo ruined his breakfast and concluded we made a bad decision. A UH researcher said she was sickened by the photo. "If people choose to pay for this, fine," she said. "It's not appropriate for the paper." A Honolulu woman wrote us to say we should have warned readers who opened the paper.

"The human cadaver pictures are chilling, to say the least," she wrote. "I may sound like a bit of a Pollyanna but I'm negatively affected by gore, horror and cruelty. Sensitivity to others is important. Not everyone thinks this is entertainment."

Since our first story ran in late May, The Advertiser entered into an advertising trade agreement with the group that is staging the exhibit. The paper, through its Newspaper in Education program in the circulation department, will also print an eight-page tabloid in August that can be used in classrooms, as has been done by many other newspapers where the exhibit has toured.

I don't personally plan to attend the exhibit and find the use of cadavers personally disturbing, but it seems obvious to me that we should give readers a glimpse of the exhibit, as we did again yesterday in Island Life, to draw their own conclusions.

We shouldn't overplay the story, but hiding it from readers isn't going to make it go away.


Mark Platte is senior vice president/editor of The Advertiser. Reach him at mplatte@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8080.