Saturday, December 30, 2006

Saddam's Execution

This does indeed seem to be a problem for the networks, as Reuters suggests:

As the world awaited word of Saddam Hussein's fate, U.S. television news executives faced a quandary over whether to break a taboo against airing footage of executions should video of his hanging become available.

As of Friday evening, two major broadcast networks -- ABC and NBC -- as well as cable news outlets CNN and Fox News Channel -- said they would wait to see what images of Saddam's execution, if any, surface before deciding whether and how to use them.

All said they would break into regular programming with special coverage when they confirmed the former Iraqi leader was dead, although none contemplated any live pictures from the hanging.

Is any network executive really going to want to start showing snuff movies? As we know, the pictures at least, and perhaps the video, are all over the net already, but is anyone actually going to start showing them on TV? Be interesting to see how it plays out.

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