Nets ponder Saddam execution plans, news sites?
Cory Bergman December 29th, 2006
With the distinct possibility of Saddam Hussein’s execution appearing on Iraq TV, the broadcast and cable news networks are figuring out what they’ll do with the video. “We’re very aware that we’re coming into people’s living rooms and that there could be children watching,” CBS News senior VP Linda Mason said. While the nets will likely not show the actual execution, what should news sites do? Post a slide show of screen grabs with a warning? The video? Or is that best left to Drudge? Adds Rob in comments, “I served in two wars where he was leading the other team and believe me I want him dead but, however evil he is, to televise his death up close and personal, would make us appear to be gloating over his downfall and demise and make us no better than he is.”
22 Comments Add your own
1. thedetroitchannel | December 29th, 2006 at 9:44 am
and i’m left to ponder why the hell we are hanging the guy in the first place…
the detroit news (i think) owns the photo, but it use to be on google images (now removed) of saddam in a detroit tigers baseball cap, old english d and all.
that was on the trip he took to detroit in the very early 80’s when he was presented with the key to the city.
we as americans are such a shining example.
2. StephM | December 29th, 2006 at 10:51 am
Sites like Orish and YouTube will have it for sure, and if people want it they will find it. Who responsibility is it to provide a source as disgusting as it will be?
Should news sites offer it up with proper disclaimer before the video starts?
Now, should the video get promoted in the news that it is on the site for interested people? That is the million dollar question.
3. Wyatt | December 29th, 2006 at 11:46 am
I’m left wondering, too…
wondering why it was deemed newsworthy to show the sniper snuff films assasinating American soldiers but somehow Saddam’s execution might be “too much for TV.”
The hypocrisy astounds me…
4. Safran | December 29th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Show the video, with proper warnings. This is news, and it’s important that we understand we live with the consequences of our choices.
I’m always asked the “what about the children?” question. Here’s the simple answer: children should not be watching the news.
It’s an interesting thought, sending people to the site to opt-in to watch the video though.
5. Alyssa | December 29th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
I imagine that there are some people in this world who won’t belive he’s actually dead w/o seeing video ‘proof’….
Will it really be any more or less gory than what a kid might see on TV or in some video games?
6. Cory | December 29th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Showing the execution itself is a lot different than just showing a shot of Saddam’s body.
I would imagine newscasts will show video up until the execution and his body afterward, and a few newsrooms will broadcast still photos of him hanging. But that will be the extent of it on TV.
Online, however, is a tougher call for me. I have no problem with a slide show and an edited video clip, with the proper warnings, but showing video of the actual execution itself is something else.
7. Rob | December 29th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
We live in a strange world where we have no problem showing a smart bomb blow up al-Zarqawi’s safe house and his body after the airstrike but people will turn away when you have to look into a person’s eyes as his neck snaps and see the actual, physical death.
Both were executions. One involved a court of law and the other one involved a laser guided bomb.
One is cold and anaseptic and provides a measure of distance from the execution making it more palatible while the other is up front and in your face.
So its not a question of newsworthiness but a question of morality and the quality of mercy. Saddam’s been dethroned, captured, convicted and sentenced all in front of the world. There’s now no question he embodied evil; just ask any living Kurd, Shiite Muslim, Iranian or Kuwaiti.
I served in two wars where he was leading the other team and believe me I want him dead but, however evil he is, to televise his death up close and personal, would make us appear to be gloating over his downfall and demise and make us no better than he is.
So show the scene and show the pictures afterward but give him a measure of mercy and let him die in private.
8. Stephen Downes | December 29th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Just what the world needs, as a souvenir of the illegal and unprovoked invasion of Iraq, a government sanctioned snuff film, the result of a kangaroo trial recognized by no nation in the world.
I hope to see the current American leadership brought before a war crimes trial, and I know that whatever hearing they get will be more humane and more fair than the treatment accorded Hussein. Not that they deserve it.
9. jeff lowenstein | December 29th, 2006 at 5:57 pm
3 words: PAY PER VIEW
10. Floyd | December 29th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
People still read Matt Drudge?
11. Barry S. | December 29th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
I figure we’ll see it on Ogrish, YouTube, and countless Arab media outlets. The guy didn’t even deserve to have a trial and plead his case, he never allowed anyone else to. This should have happened 3 yrs ago.
I doubt any of the US nets have the intestinal fortitude to release it on their air or webspace.
12. froggerpitfaller | December 29th, 2006 at 10:25 pm
it should be shown, censored, in the appropriate forums. the internet will reign supreme on this one though, the way it’s meant to.
13. thedetroitchannel | December 29th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
barry, if ridding the world of despots like saddam excites you, why not enlist yourself or your kids?
there are probably 100 ruthless a-holes running countries around the world today, you’ll have plenty of work ahead of you.
14. andrew | December 30th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
yo what up
15. Insane | December 30th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
You are all fools! Saddam’s execution was a total hoax a show. I have seen the unedited version and right before the actual event the camera is shut off and then it comes back on to him lying on a white sheet. Why no actually show of him hanging. He is alive and well and pulled off the biggest hoax to date. Look around there is no proof.
16. thetehranchannel | December 30th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
oh, so he did an arabic version of the “ken lay”???
17. kenneth | December 31st, 2006 at 2:45 am
I think saddam hussein,s hanging should not be fully shown on television.He desrve respect though dead.
18. Anonymous | December 31st, 2006 at 7:21 am
The assassin is unjust not only appreciates the same thing they did not take mercy dear boy brothers and my husband and parents Benteh grandchildren suffered heart Mertaada died, but the representative of a professional before the cameras even as he executed resting beside permission important oilfields and Muslini This is a lesson to free their peoples likes to remain Valamrikan not have Aziz
19. John Gauntlett | January 1st, 2007 at 6:32 pm
We put him there in 1959 and did not monitor what was going on until 1989 hence the Gulf War. Good riddin’s to garbage.
20. Lynn | January 5th, 2007 at 10:12 am
I agree with Wyatt…Why, if they showed the snipers’ assassinations, why is it too much for them to see a murderer, the one that executed his own people, hung?
Answer that….
21. Kyriakos | November 26th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Sorry
22. Liey | January 18th, 2008 at 7:24 am
Wow, thanks for the excellent information!
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