On Saddam
| 13:03 UK time, Friday, 5 January 2007
A quick postscript to an earlier posting by my TV News colleague Kevin Bakhurst.
Several comments in response to what he said about use of video from Saddam’s execution objected to the fact that on this website we showed a still image of Saddam Hussein on the gallows awaiting execution.
On the day it happened the image, which included the noose, was on the front page for several hours and it remained thereafter. (We also used the video that ran on our TV news channels – which we do as a matter of course on all stories).
The decision to use the still image was not taken lightly and we realised some would disagree with it. We’ve been careful not to repeat the image needlessly in all the stories we’ve done since then about the event. But it was important to give our audience an understanding of how the event will have been seen by many in Iraq, the region and the rest of the world.
We are a news website and this was a key part of depicting what was by anyone’s standards a major news event.
Comments
Saddam's execution was by all means a riveting story and the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ had to do a fine balancing act. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ directors obviously weighed the pros and cons and came up with the still image. This was a measured, accurate response and was not blatant by any standards. If other media followed the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's code of ethical standards, journalism would hold pride of place. Other media should follow the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's footsteps.
Saddam's execution was indeed an important story that required extensive coverage due to the implications of his death and the impact on the world. However did day time news including 6pm need to have a series of still images of him awaiting the noose to be put around his neck. As a parent of young children I feel the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ again has gone too far in what is broadcast during day time and the effect such images have on our children. Surely such images could have been kept for the 10pm news. I feel young children need to be aware of what is happening in the world and the day time news can generate alot of discussion from children who view it. But why as a parent do I now feel that I have to closely scrutinise day time news and be prepared to switch of instantly when images which are disturbing are broadcast. PLease ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ think more about the effect such have on our young, save them for the later news rather than being sensational and copying others.
My husband and I are at a loss to understand why it is necessary to keep repeating the upsetting images of Saddam Hussein's execution. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ comment of 'not taking the decision lightly' and the need to recognise their position in world reporting, may have been acceptable to some initially. However, surely we have all seen these awful images more than enough now!
Why all the sympathy for Saddam Hussein from our ministers when the man should have been led to the gallows between rows of relations of the people he has murdered, to be kicked, whipped and abused as a lesson to any future tyrant in the making.
I think the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ was absolutely right to show the images of Saddam execution in a sensitive way. What troubles me is people's shock at images such as this. There are terrible things happening every day in Iraq: the murder of those who are innocent. If anything, there should be more coverage of the horrific and distressing nature of these crimes - people should be shocked by these things. So many statistics can not do enough. The hanging of a guilty, however 'deplorable' in its execution, pales in comparison with the daily murder of innocent civilians by means far less dignified than any hanging.
There is a big difference between the Iraqi government's announcement that Saddam had been executed, and the Iraqi government's broadcast, on local television, of footage of the former tyrant's execution.
Like it or not, that footage is part of the story, and the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ were right to report it in the way that they did. The subsequent release of the 'unofficial' footage, and the Sunni reaction to it across the Middle East, emphasises this point.
The still image chosen was appropriate and illustrated the story perfectly. It may have been disturbing, but it was hardly gratuitous.
I am absolutely disgusted at the amount of times, in the past week, you have shown scenes from the execution of Saddam Hussein. When is it going to stop? And, are we going to have endure more of the same when his half brother and other associates meet the same fate?
I would like to watch the news without having to view these barbaric scenes.
Women and children watch news too.
The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ did the right thing by showing the harrowing images of the hanging. It might upset some people, but in the long run it would open the debate for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide.
To be honest, I think many people are very keenly aware of precisely what a hanging involves, which is why I probably wouldn't have used the image if I were reporting it.
I wasn't offended, I just felt it rather redundant in the circumstances.
"Women and children watch news too"? I'm impressed you can keep up with the news considering you've just stepped out of the 19th century. I'm a female and a minor, and I think the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ did the right thing by showing the news as it is. They haven't shown any of the undignified images that we've read about, just representations of the event that are, in my opinion, appropriate to the audience.
One still image that shows the truth behind the execution is sufficient: Whether the photograph shows the resolution within Sadam's face, or the revengful and disordered sectarian celebration, the choice of timeless image is up to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ to decide.
I recall that the image showed SH putting the noose around his own neck. Perhaps he was saying, 'lets get this whole farce over with'. Yes, my view is that he was a tyrant, but, with hindsight, we can see that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's image said a lot about what was actually happening. The answer is not to censor images of horrible things happening, but to witness what the world is like and let people do something if they can to change things.
What ever you do or show someone is always bound to complain, my attitude is if you don't like it, you can turn off.
Here in the US the Spanish speaking news channels were showing the Full execution. Now that would have caused a few complainers.