I’m kind of conflicted about TMZ. They piss me off regularly by doing things like being blatantly racist, reporting every single detail in Britney’s messed up life, and by posting the tape of Donda West’s 911 call in what seemed like a blatant affront to her grieving family. They’re the source for a lot of accurate breaking news on Heath Ledger’s death, though, and were the first to report that he had pneumonia, casting doubt on the theory that a lot of outlets jumped on that his death was the result of an overdose. They also said today that his gorgeous apartment looked normal according to paramedics on the scene, and that it didn’t seem to be the scene of illicit drug use. Indeed, there were absolutely no illegal drugs or even alcohol found at Heath’s place by the police.

They’re now streaming live video from his viewing outside the funeral home, though, and that crosses a very wide and obvious line in our opinion. We are not trying to be a moral authority in this. It’s our job to rip on celebrities and we have made fun of Heath in the past. But when someone’s family says they want to grieve a sudden death of a young guy who seemed perfectly healthy the day before, you should respect that and not broadcast video and photos of his body being led out to an ambulance. I also don’t think it’s right that People published a photo of Michelle Williams today. She looked understandably worn out and sad. We can imagine how it’s bothering people who were close to him – we don’t need to see it. It makes us feel guilty and sad. We’re already capitalizing on these people daily, we don’t need to be privy to video of their funerals too.

There’s a very good article in the Australian press by a journalist who had a candid conversation with Heath two years ago. She said he was extremely conflicted about the press and his obvious anger at the paparazzi who followed him constantly. He admitted to handling himself poorly with photographers and said he was trying his best to contain his frustration at the situation. He said “It’s a personal space thing. It gets to you, sort of eats at you. It just hurts, you feel squeezed.” So this is clearly not someone who would want his funeral broadcast for all the world to see.

Update: Thanks to commentor MSat for letting us know that TMZ has removed the live feed from outside the funeral home where a viewing was to take place today. The last we checked there were over five pages of overwhelmingly negative comments on TMZ’s post, urging them to remove the video and telling them it was a new low.