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.

[MN_Mike]

Let's not stop there, why not replay the people jumping out of windows to their death on 9/11?

[MN_Mike]

We are talking media replaying over-and-over-and-over, akin to Abu Ghraib abuse photos.

[wimpycat]

I, for one, am not going to watch the video. I once clicked on a link to a picture that everybody warned was gross, awful, disgusting, etc. and I got more than I bargained for. The image was seared onto my brain for days. (It was "tub girl" for those of you who remember.) Since then, I just take people's word for it.

I don't need to see the video to know how barbaric these al-Qaeda types are, or to further stoke my anger. They're bloody savages, that's all there is to it.

By the way, welcome to FR. I hope you're good at threshing.

[MN_Mike]

Didn't Al-Jazeera show the mutilation of the four in Fallujah?

[dan1123]

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

I completely agree. And I think the family should sue. This deserves much more than any of the other corporate lawsuits.

[MN_Mike]

Caption: I have got to hand it to you

[Wolfstar]

Mort Kondracke of Fox News had this to say after viewing the video (i.e., Mort gets it; seeing the video makes it personal.):

"Look at those monsters standing there, six of them, and they cut the guy's head off; they sawed his head off shouting God is great. Now that is what we are dealing with; that is the kind of people who will run the world if we do not win this war on terrorism. And it is being fought in Iraq and we have got to win and that is it full stop. There is just no losing this thing or else the world will be run by monsters."

[WOSG]

NO, the fact that the media will not show it, yet allow lies about how US military abuse compares to what our enemies are doing shows their lies and double standard.

That is why we should criticize the media for this: Their double standard. They never needed to show Abu Graib photos but they did.

[NYer]

Yet, mysteriously, withn a feww minutes, it was a magical" unanimous consensus of ALL the newts, every last one..to stop showing the shots, and the videotape.. Why?

Out of respect for the families of these victims. Those images are burned into my mind - freewheeling, floating, some of them with charred limbs, totally relaxed as they floated down to their final reward.

You are right in that the media is very selective about what they will show. They enjoy flaunting US abuses but refuse to acknowledge atrocities inflicted against our own. Just watch! Tomorrow we will hear Katie Kouric justifying this poor soul's beheading. If anyone, she will find a reason to support those who committed this atrocious act against humanity.

[cake_crumb]

You're all missing the point. Sex sells. You'd be surprised how many closet perves there are - especially in the Arab world, where most men are at least bi-sexual.

The prison photos are titillating to the perverted, and give them the added bonus of pretending to be outrages. This furthers the plans of the Democrats to destroy the Bush administration - they hope.

The video of Berg's murder is grisley.

We're not the type who rubberneck at train wrecks, hoping for a sight of blood of a severed limb lying in the grass I hope.

See the video if you need reminding of the types of animals we fight. But we don't need the whole thing on TV. The video shown to the point where he's thrown down and dogpiled by bloodthirsty savages would be enough. If anyone would show that much. I don't want to see it. I don't need to be reminded just who the enemy is, but those of us cross-eyed from the propaganda campaign just might benefit.

It WOULD be nice, however, if the media (besides Fox) just gave it THE COVERAGE IT DESERVES WITHOUT SPINNING IT INTO ANOTHER PHONY DEMOCRAT CAMPAIGN PLATFORM.

[TexKat]

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

Pray tell when was the last time you saw an actual beheading on an American tv network, cable or other?

[Keen-Minded]

Hopefully America will wake up and realize what savages we are dealing with.

It will be very interesting to see the polling following this horrible act. Will we rally behind President Bush? I hope so!!!

[torchthemummy]

I just saw the video - I didn't want to but I had to. I was shaking, heart-pounding the whole time leading up to the execution. I remember looking at the time left in the video and saying to myself this poor man will be dead in less than two minutes. I broke down when I saw the sick mo-fo pull out his half-sword.

And let me tell you - I AM PISSED!!! I AM MAD!!! AND I WILL NEVER LET THE LIBERAL PUKE THAT SURROUNDS ME FORGET WHAT HAPPENED BECAUSE THEIR VAUNTED LEADERS ARE ACTIVELY SUPPORTING THE FAILURE OF OUR MISSION, OUR SECURITY AND OUR TROOPS!!!!! SOMEDAY......

[rwfromkansas]

What is it titled in Kazaa?

[TheLion]

Americans need to watch this video, they need to know what we are up against.....which is exactly what the media doesn't want anyone to know.

[don-o]

Hello - my first post. Been reading here for a while...

Well done.

I cannot believe you got that screen name.

You sound young. I hope you are. We need the next generation here.

[Tymesup]

Thanks for posting the links.

Shocking.

If one side is playing to win while the other is playing not to lose, it's only a matter of time.

Leon Klinghoffer
Daniel Pearl
Four guys from Blackwater (they don't even get named in the news)
Nick Berg

...

[rwfromkansas]

I did when little...8 years old or so and would watch the evening news since I had dreams of being a national anchor when little.

[Mr. Mojo]

How long was Berg detained before they murdered him? Weeks? Months?

[TheLion]

BTW, we need to find out how all the media outlets are covering this story.