robin williams
© Reed Saxon, Associated PressRobin Williams
The picture painted was gruesome. No detail, it seemed, was spared.

On Monday, Robin Williams' grieving wife asked for privacy. A day later, the Marin County sheriff's office revealed graphic facts about the beloved actor's suicide. Many who watched coverage of the news conference were stunned - and offended - by the level of detail disclosed. Shock turned to anger as the media reported the facts.

Investigators in California said Williams' death was a suicide by hanging. Officials detailed how he was found dead in a bedroom, clothed, slightly suspended in a seated position with a belt around his neck, with one end of it wedged between a closet door frame.

In California, the information revealed during the news conference is open record. There is a legal obligation to release the findings.

The public outcry doesn't surprise Craig Harvey, chief coroner investigator with the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.

"We got the same blowback from Michael Jackson's death," he said.

The coroner's office is a public records office, "so all of that information, as uncomfortable as it might be, is fair game," he said.

While the public gets protective of well-loved celebrities, providing information to the public "is what we do," Harvey said.

But what about the media ethics involved?

Al Tompkins, of media watchdog Poynter, said it's legitimate and defensible for the networks, local TV stations and online sites to carry the news conference live. However, that doesn't mean journalists need to repeat the graphic details.

"The coroner's office has an obligation to report what they know," Tompkins said. "Journalists don't have the obligation to report that information over and over again in that level of detail."

Tompkins said he would struggle to defend the deep details of exactly how Williams killed himself. However, he cautioned that that doesn't mean the details are never crucial. Context is key.

"In Michael Jackson's case, there was great disagreement over what occurred and how it occurred," Tompkins said. "Then the details of his death become much more important to understand exactly what happened."

Tompkins also said the subject of suicide requires particular discretion.

"Suicide experts say graphic details about the exact cause of death - the details of the death particularly when they involve a celebrity - are more likely to have the 'contagion affect,'" Tompkins said, which can breed copycats.

"Graphic details of the cause of death are not nearly as helpful as a deeper conversation about intervention, depression and the need for mental health care," he said.

Ultimately, Tompkins stressed the key for the media is to always ask the question: "What is the journalistic purpose for what we do?"

See the outrage on Twitter:

‏@katevmurphy: "Why are the police having a press conference & offering up very intimate details about Robin Williams' death? This isn't anyone's business."

@megsy124: "What an awful press conference. Let's stick to remembering & paying tribute to @robinwilliams in the way he deserved."

‏@rachelsklar: "Wow. Was not expecting this level of detail in the Robin Williams press conference. Why does the world need to know this??"

‏@ananavarro: "Wish press wasn't going into details of Robin Williams' death. Let's remember him as a humble, noble man who shared his talent w/world."

‏@kaydubby: "If you are squirmish/get easily sick, please stay away from reading about the press conference they had about Robin Williams death . . ."

@AlexMLeo: "The amount of info being given out about Robin Williams' death is shocking. Holding a press conference to give gory details is horrible."

@DrNeilMaredia: "Don't agree with decision by @bbc5live to broadcast gory details of Robin Williams' death from live police press conference. Inappropriate."

@InkAddict89: "I get the world is hungry to know how Robin Williams died, but do we really need the gory deets? Can we not afford the family that privacy?"