This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/aug/27/were-the-media-wrong-to-publish-virginia-shootings-video-and-images
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Were the media wrong to publish Virginia shootings video and images? | Were the media wrong to publish Virginia shootings video and images? |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Thousands of people took to Twitter to complain about national newspapers showing graphic images of a journalist being shot dead in Virginia. | Thousands of people took to Twitter to complain about national newspapers showing graphic images of a journalist being shot dead in Virginia. |
| And many also expressed disgust at people who had watched the online video footage of the murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward by their former colleague, Vester Flanagan. | And many also expressed disgust at people who had watched the online video footage of the murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward by their former colleague, Vester Flanagan. |
| But it is fair to say that widespread public disgust at the publication of the pictures and the footage was matched by widespread public accessing of the same images. | But it is fair to say that widespread public disgust at the publication of the pictures and the footage was matched by widespread public accessing of the same images. |
| Many hundreds of thousands of people bought the newspapers that published the photographs... and will do again tomorrow. | Many hundreds of thousands of people bought the newspapers that published the photographs... and will do again tomorrow. |
| There, in a nutshell, is the problem faced by all media organisations in dealing with controversial material. The public, the people they serve, do not think or act alike. | There, in a nutshell, is the problem faced by all media organisations in dealing with controversial material. The public, the people they serve, do not think or act alike. |
| Related: Virginia shootings: we learn nothing from seeing murder in real time | Archie Bland | |
| Moreover, it cannot be denied that there is also a deep well of hypocrisy involved in the matter because some people who viewed the disturbing footage undoubtedly went on to express outrage that editors should have dared to publish those images. | Moreover, it cannot be denied that there is also a deep well of hypocrisy involved in the matter because some people who viewed the disturbing footage undoubtedly went on to express outrage that editors should have dared to publish those images. |
| And it is highly likely that people who took to Twitter to curse newspapers were also guilty of retweeting them or sending links to social media friends. | And it is highly likely that people who took to Twitter to curse newspapers were also guilty of retweeting them or sending links to social media friends. |
| After the event, ghouls are often critical of other ghouls. We looked, they will say, but we did so merely to inform ourselves, not to glory in it as others did. Call it human nature, if you like. | After the event, ghouls are often critical of other ghouls. We looked, they will say, but we did so merely to inform ourselves, not to glory in it as others did. Call it human nature, if you like. |
| But also understand that editors are human too and required to make decisions that will satisfy the appetite of readers who hold divergent views. | But also understand that editors are human too and required to make decisions that will satisfy the appetite of readers who hold divergent views. |
| The UK’s national newspaper front pages illustrate the differences of approach. The pictures in the Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, the Sun, Daily Mirror and Daily Star appear to have been taken from the gunman’s video. | The UK’s national newspaper front pages illustrate the differences of approach. The pictures in the Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, the Sun, Daily Mirror and Daily Star appear to have been taken from the gunman’s video. |
| They show the terror of TV reporter Alison Parker at the moment she realises she is being shot. In some cases (Times, Telegraph, Mail) they also showed the horrified reaction of her interviewee, who was wounded in the attack. | They show the terror of TV reporter Alison Parker at the moment she realises she is being shot. In some cases (Times, Telegraph, Mail) they also showed the horrified reaction of her interviewee, who was wounded in the attack. |
| Some Twitter users reported that in the immediate aftermath of the murders the footage was put up on some newspaper websites , but was swiftly removed. | Some Twitter users reported that in the immediate aftermath of the murders the footage was put up on some newspaper websites , but was swiftly removed. |
| In this digital age, with the lightning speed of transmission, it is understandable that an initial decision to publish and be damned can give way to more compassionate and tasteful second thoughts. | In this digital age, with the lightning speed of transmission, it is understandable that an initial decision to publish and be damned can give way to more compassionate and tasteful second thoughts. |
| And taste, in the end, is the key to the dilemma about what should and should not be shown. Editors do not live independently from their audiences. Although their job is about disclosure, about revealing as much as possible in order to inform the public, they are aware that there are lines they should not cross in order not to offend their readers and viewers. | And taste, in the end, is the key to the dilemma about what should and should not be shown. Editors do not live independently from their audiences. Although their job is about disclosure, about revealing as much as possible in order to inform the public, they are aware that there are lines they should not cross in order not to offend their readers and viewers. |
| Related: The blasé acceptance that you might get shot is a fact of American life | Megan Carpentier | |
| In western liberal society, it is generally accepted that there are graphic images - such as dead bodies - that should not be shown. | In western liberal society, it is generally accepted that there are graphic images - such as dead bodies - that should not be shown. |
| Similarly, showing murderous attacks is regarded as a no-no. But it as well to recall that both images and footage were shown of the murders of John Kennedy and his brother, Bobby, and of the presidential assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. | Similarly, showing murderous attacks is regarded as a no-no. But it as well to recall that both images and footage were shown of the murders of John Kennedy and his brother, Bobby, and of the presidential assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. |
| When video footage exists, it is often difficult to decide what should be shown and what should not. Editors of both TV and newspaper outlets faced that problem in May 2013 when the British soldier Lee Rigby was killed by two men in a London street. | When video footage exists, it is often difficult to decide what should be shown and what should not. Editors of both TV and newspaper outlets faced that problem in May 2013 when the British soldier Lee Rigby was killed by two men in a London street. |
| Those editors, taking into account the fact that many of their viewers and readers would have seen a great deal on social media, still employed taste and discretion in what they eventually decided to publish. | Those editors, taking into account the fact that many of their viewers and readers would have seen a great deal on social media, still employed taste and discretion in what they eventually decided to publish. |
| Similarly, editors took opposing decisions over the footage and images of the man cowering before his murderers during the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris in January this year. | Similarly, editors took opposing decisions over the footage and images of the man cowering before his murderers during the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris in January this year. |
| Those incidents, as with the Virginia killings, presented editors with a dilemma. Given that the footage and pictures were available online, how should they decide what was, and was not, appropriate to publish? | Those incidents, as with the Virginia killings, presented editors with a dilemma. Given that the footage and pictures were available online, how should they decide what was, and was not, appropriate to publish? |
| I am hesitant to be overly critical of editors who went further than I might have done. My taste is not their taste. And their audiences’ taste may not be mine either. | I am hesitant to be overly critical of editors who went further than I might have done. My taste is not their taste. And their audiences’ taste may not be mine either. |
| There was the Daily News in New York. But, arguably, the Sun carried the most controversial image because it appears to show the actual moment of the fatal gunshot. And the sequence of pictures on pages 4 and 5 are graphic too. A video on its website, which was widely available online, shows the footage of the incident as broadcast live on the Virginia TV channel, WDBJ7. | |
| Did this amount to an intrusion into grief? Not in my opinion. To say the Sun was “wrong” to have done it is to say that Sun readers, all six million of them, are wrong. But it comes down, as I said before, to taste. | Did this amount to an intrusion into grief? Not in my opinion. To say the Sun was “wrong” to have done it is to say that Sun readers, all six million of them, are wrong. But it comes down, as I said before, to taste. |
| I preferred the decision taken by the editors of the Guardian, Daily Express, Metro and i, all of which used portraits of the victims on their front pages. But that’s not about being “right”. It’s just my taste. | I preferred the decision taken by the editors of the Guardian, Daily Express, Metro and i, all of which used portraits of the victims on their front pages. But that’s not about being “right”. It’s just my taste. |
| If the readers of the Sun, say, or the Telegraph, were offended by their newspapers, they have the ultimate sanction - stop buying them. I think, however, such a reaction is unlikely. | If the readers of the Sun, say, or the Telegraph, were offended by their newspapers, they have the ultimate sanction - stop buying them. I think, however, such a reaction is unlikely. |