If you, like the Defamer Australia team, cruise the online news portals throughout the day, chances are you would have seen the piece that went up around lunchtime today on News.com.au about Chantal Sebire, a Frenchwoman suffering from a rare cancer, who is requesting President Sarkozy allow her a death with dignity via euthanasia, which is illegal in France.

If you have read the story, then you will have also seen the pictures of Ms Sebire's condition, which involves tumours that have attacked her nasal passages and disfigured her eyes and face beyond, one would imagine, recognition.

And just in case you didn't see the pictures, News.com.au has put together a handy gallery, which they have breathlessly termed "In Pictures: Chantal Sebire's terrible suffering".

Now, what is most notable about the interview with Ms Sebire is that she does not once mention her appearance, or her face, or even the tumours themselves beyond how they have affected her senses and the pain they cause.

So what bothers us is the way News.com.au have taken it upon themselves to wheel out Ms Sebire's case as some sort of afternoon snack break Joseph Merrick-lite tale, with a gee-whiz gallery to boot, as though she just can't bear to go on living looking like this. Without the pictures, would News.com.au bother giving front-page banner space to the story? Posting photos of Ms Sebire with captions like "Painful cancer ... Chantal Sebire just wants to die with dignity" doesn't make this any less of a blatant attempt at generating some car-crash site traffic.

Then again, we're not sure why we expect even a modicum of decency from the people that brought you this, this and this.