Media Outlets Won't Show Beheading Video (Media Hypocrisy Alert)

AP via Yahoo News ^ | 5/11/04 | By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

[Wolfstar]

NEW YORK - Video of an American civilian beheaded by an al-Qaida-affiliated group was deemed too gruesome to air by many media outlets Tuesday, including some prominent networks in the Arab world.

Several television networks, including CNN and MSNBC in the United States, showed pictures of a bound and frightened Nick Berg, with five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks standing behind him.

The video, posted Tuesday on an Islamic militant Web site, went on to show the men cutting Berg's head off and then holding it before the camera. Berg's body was found in Baghdad on Saturday.

Many media outlets likened it to the video of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's 2002 execution. In both cases, snippets of the video with the victim still alive were widely shown, but none of the actual killing.

"The news story itself is strong enough," said Jihad Ballout, spokesman for Al-Jazeera television, an Arabic-language satellite station based in Qatar. "To show the actual beheading is out of the realm of decency."

One of Al-Jazeera's competitors, the Arab news station Al-Arabiya, showed a brief snippet without the beheading.

The ABC, CBS and NBC broadcast networks said they did not plan to show anything beyond the opening shot of Berg alive on their evening news programs.

"It's a pretty clear call for us," said Jon Banner, executive producer of ABC's "World News Tonight." "I think the viewer will understand what happened to Mr. Berg. They won't have to sit through the graphic images."

Steve Capus, executive producer of NBC's "Nightly News," said it was one of the worst things he had ever seen.

"I saw it from start to finish and I wish I didn't have to," Capus said. "It's a horrifying, sadistic act of murder that is drawn out."

Peter Koeleman, director of photography at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, said it was chilling enough just to see pictures of Berg sitting before his captors.

"We always say, `What if his family member lives here?'" Koeleman said. "It's such a cruel thing they did to him. There's so much impact in seeing him helplessly sitting there, it sent shivers down my spine. I didn't need to have it in my face."

Similarly, Bob Keane, a managing editor at Newsday on New York's Long Island, said the newspaper would not show images of the beheading.

"The story is gruesome enough," Keane said. "We'll leave much of it to people's imaginations. If people are curious, they can go to the Web site."

Associated Press Television News, which provides news pictures to 500 subscribers worldwide, distributed video of the full beheading. The video was preceded by a printed warning that lasted a full minute: "Warning! Man is beheaded on camera, extremely graphic footage."

APTN is told repeatedly by subscribers to provide them with as much news material as possible, and let the individual stations decide for themselves what to air, said Sandy MacIntyre, APTN's head of news.

The material was not included in a separate news feed that some stations put directly on the air, MacIntyre said. The AP works as both a wholesaler of news to its members and also disseminates news to the public itself.

[Wolfstar]

The same media that is gleefully wallowing in the Iraq prison photos and is demanding release of more, including videos, won't show the truth about the savagery of our enemy. But you can bet your last dollar that the seditious media WILL show the prison video if and when it's released.

[AntiKev]

"The news story itself is strong enough," said Jihad Ballout

Jihad Ballout eh? Well...uhm...no comment.

[Wolfstar]

[Billthedrill]

Yeah - they'll fill the time with more prison photos, bet on it.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Terror-Enablers Ping

[keithtoo]

The ONLY reason for this is because the media is invested in the anti-Bush, anti-war cause and this video would go against their agenda.

If they get their hands on more Al-Ghraib photos, they will be shown, over and over and....

[NYer]

These are savage animals - including the media!

[marty60]

I find it hard to believe that anything ABC,CBS,NBC et al, would see that would make them queezy. The only reson is that it doesn't provide political advantage to Kerry (scummy creep). If they thought for one minute they could get some advantage for the weirdo they would show it. Bet they keep showing the prison porn pics.

[MizSterious]

One almost suspects that if the deceased had been nude, they'd have aired it. The media makes me ill.

[Wolfstar]

Nick Berg before the jihadists got hold of him:

And after: much thinner and moments from death in this still from the video.

[alnitak]

Judging by the number of people uploading from my Kazaa share, this video will get around.

[The Louiswu]

These same media outlets show bank robberies gone sour, shootings, many types of violence, but they won't show this?

[LiveFreeOrDie2001]

** This is a call to have everyone send e-mails of outrage. I am doing it. We MUST demand coverage.

[Williams]

The protests against the media should be loud and unrelenting. Americans are dying - gruesomely so - and the media's agenda should not be tolerated. They very much want us slaughtered as sheep while they show us images only of our own supposed "wrongdoing." Imagine how offensive to credit Al Queda's claim that this was revenge. Al Queda doesn't care about Iraqi prisoners and the American they beheaded was totally innocent of anything. The media should be put out of business if it won't stop catering to those who kill us.

[gore_sux]

"The news story itself is strong enough," said Jihad Ballout, spokesman for Al-Jazeera television, an Arabic-language satellite station based in Qatar. "To show the actual beheading is out of the realm of decency."M<

Interesting how "PG" rated abuse by American troops can be splashed on newscast after newscast creating a "scandal" tidal wave, but "R" and "X" rated terrorist acts get swept under the rug because they can't/won't be shown to the masses!

Note to American Interrogators: Make sure your future "discussions" with prisoners are "Too Hot for TV!" and poof! scandals will disappear

[roses of sharon]

I called and asked if Dan would be saying he was "sorry" to the Berg family tonite, for causing the death of their son.

[Gil4]

From what I have heard, there was no decision to make for the mainstream media on this one. There is just no way they could show it. I won't even download it out of fear that my kids might open it.

Compared to this video, the Iraq prison videos are the equivalent of a frat house hazing.

[Wolfstar]

Yes, it will get around the internet. But the so-called mainstream media will stuff it, just like they stuffed 9/11 after the initial shock wore off. Thank God for the internet (even if Algore did invent it [wink]) because the mainstream media is losing its grip on being the gatekeepers of news.

[narby]

We need to Freep 60 minutes for starting this.

No one in the media was interested in the story back in January. No one cared, until the pictures came out on 60 minutes.

These animals claimed they beheaded the American because of the prison thing. 60 minutes caused this. It doesn't matter that "someone else" would have released the pictures if they hadn't. 60 minutes promoted this. They should get stuck with the blame.

I don't think it will happen, but the family should sue them within an inch of Viacom's stock price.