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 Post subject: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 4:44 pm 
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You are editing a story about the beheading of a U.S. citizen in Iraq. A video posted on a Web site purportedly shows the beheading. Do you include the URL?


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 5:03 pm 
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No -- just as you wouldn't publish a URL for a hard-core porn site.<p>[ May 11, 2004: Message edited by: Walter ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 5:03 pm 
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Whose Web site is it? Was it set up by al-Qaida? How did the site get the video? Have you forced yourself to sit through it so you know what you'd be telling your readers about?<p>I lean against running the URL. The story here is the existence of the video, not the gory details. Papers have no specific duty to respect the wishes of the man's family, but those wishes should tip the balance unless we can articulate a good reason for running the URL.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 6:26 pm 
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I don't see why you would have to print the URL. However, you should visit the site to confirm the content of the video (sorry task for whomever has to do that) and you might want to reference the organization that runs the website in a way that would allow macabre-minded viewers a way to find the URL on their own.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 6:48 pm 
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Some might ask, "Why make it difficult for readers who might be interested?" And wouldn't you, by describing the video but not telling readers where to find it, be saying, in effect, "We've seen it but you shouldn't!"<p>(Please note that I haven't decided one way or another and, in any event, my opinion would have no practical effect.)


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 7:31 pm 
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It would appear the site has been blocked by federal authorities, making the question academic.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 7:38 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Paul Wiggins:
It would appear the site has been blocked by federal authorities, making the question academic.<hr></blockquote><p>Are you serious? That I disagree with. <p>I don't have a ready answer to blanp's question. If you do publish the URL, you need to be careful not to appear cavalier, as though it's just another Web link. "The beheading (www.whatever.com) ... "
But I guess that goes without saying.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 7:53 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp:
You are editing a story about the beheading of a U.S. citizen in Iraq. A video posted on a Web site purportedly shows the beheading. Do you include the URL?<hr></blockquote><p>Not only no, but hell no. Anyone with half a brain's knowledge can track it down, anyway. I don't want to cater to the snuff-film buff.<p>However, having said that, I've tried to call that link up within that Web site on two different pages for almost two hours. No dice. Part of me is relieved, but I feel honor-bound to watch it.<p>And, no, I'm not into non-cinematic gore. I do wire and, well, it's the job to be informed and take a look at some of the shit that I'm putting in the paper in story form. An above-it-all wire editor, IMHO, is of questionable value to the paper or its readers.<p>Gawd, though, I don't want to hear his screams....<p>[ May 11, 2004: Message edited by: Jackie ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 8:05 pm 
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Oh, man, AP just said that the way the man's family found out about the video and Web site from a reporter. Oh, man.....


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 9:47 pm 
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Not only did they find out from a reporter, but there was a photographer there to take pictures of the father falling to the ground to grieve.
Anyone else see any issue with running those pictures? It wasn't as though he was in a public place. The reporter came to his home and told him about the video. Seems a little sick.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 9:57 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by AshGarf:
Not only did they find out from a reporter, but there was a photographer there to take pictures of the father falling to the ground to grieve.
Anyone else see any issue with running those pictures? It wasn't as though he was in a public place. The reporter came to his home and told him about the video. Seems a little sick.
<hr></blockquote><p>I have more of a problem with using the pictures of the family than I would with running the URL.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 9:57 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by AshGarf:
Not only did they find out from a reporter, but there was a photographer there to take pictures of the father falling to the ground to grieve.
Anyone else see any issue with running those pictures? It wasn't as though he was in a public place. The reporter came to his home and told him about the video. Seems a little sick.
<hr></blockquote><p>That I find much more troubling than using the URL.
That, in turn, probably can't be justified, though my initial reaction to blanp's question was yes.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 10:08 pm 
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Item 11 of Australian code of ethics (link at right of home page) seems as relevant as ever.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 10:12 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp:
I have more of a problem with using the pictures of the family than I would with running the URL.<hr></blockquote>
<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by jmcg:
That I find much more troubling than using the URL.<hr></blockquote>I concur. Emphatically.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 10:50 pm 
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Andrew Sullivan is encouraging people to contact the media and insist they run the whole video. <p>For once I'm happy with the narrow multimedia options presented by newsprint.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 11:05 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by AshGarf:
Not only did they find out from a reporter, but there was a photographer there to take pictures of the father falling to the ground to grieve.<hr></blockquote><p>I sincerely hope for the Bergs' sake that the reporter at least took a shot of bringing it up gently. As opposed to the "How does it feel" ham-handedness.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2004 11:10 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by larepublica:
.... you might want to reference the organization that runs the website in a way that would allow macabre-minded viewers a way to find the URL on their own.<hr></blockquote><p>We decided against that, and I admit I was against mentioning the organization. Right, wrong, whatever: At least hundreds/thousands of teenagers won't be logging on courtesy of our paper.
Besides, major TV news organizations have the video (I'm only guessing it's edited, because I have such an old version of Windows I can't run the video on my computer) on their Web sites. It's way too easy to find with just a simple keyword search.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 2:20 am 
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I didn't use the Web site address, but did run one of the photos — the son was comforting the father — at 1 col wide below the fold on 1A.<p>None of the other copy editors or the assistant news editor said anything and, frankly, it didn't cross my mind that the photo might be offensive. I saw a man in abject grief, clutching his head and being comforted — all in all, a photo similar to the dozens we've run over the years from places like the Middle East, Chechnya and so on. Of people crying, angry and so on. Do we not run those then if we feel it's irresponsible to run a photo of an American family grieving over the tragic loss of a loved one to terrorists?<p>In the end, I sure as heck didn't use the photo for its shock value. That wasn't even on my mind. I saw someone in grief, and wanted to show the world (our readers) that, hey, this is what death always leaves behind. It's not a video game over there, folks. Well, something like that, anyway.<p>Gatekeeper<p>-30-


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 7:25 am 
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I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: "Grief" photos rarely are useful. Compare one with, say, a Cubs fan reacting to a dropped fly ball. You often can't tell the difference.<p>This one was different, too, in that the AP reporter went to the guy's home and told him about the video. The photographer intruded.<p>The news photo really had to be from the video. The "grief" pictures did nothing but invade the family's privacy.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 11:15 am 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>. The "grief" pictures did nothing but invade the family's privacy.[/QB]<hr></blockquote><p>Please stop being sensible.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 2:39 pm 
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109 of the 186 U.S. papers on the Newseum today ran the grief photo on the front page. More numbers <a href="http://www.newsdesigner.com/archives/000195.php">here</a>.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 3:06 pm 
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This is the second time the N.Y. Daily News has borrowed the "BASTARDS" idea from the S.F. Examiner.<p>See last item here.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 3:12 pm 
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That was the Philadelphia Daily News using "Bastards" today. The Daily News of New York used the more nuanced "Pure Evil."<p>[ May 12, 2004: Message edited by: blanp ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 3:23 pm 
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Ah, well then, it's good to see the "bastard" approach getting around more.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 3:29 pm 
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When will we see "Those Sons of B*t*h*s!" in a paper somewhere?<p>Gatekeeper


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 7:48 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp:
That was the Philadelphia Daily News using "Bastards" today. The Daily News of New York used the more nuanced "Pure Evil."<p>[ May 12, 2004: Message edited by: blanp ]<hr></blockquote><p>And surprise, surprise, here's Sydney Daily Telegraph:<p>[img]C:\WINNT\Profiles\ldrpage\Desktop\1329062_fronter.jpg[/img]<p>Not a bad effort, except methinks that've done it before.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 8:29 pm 
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As a father, and as a human being, I am horrified that so many papers ran that photo of the father collapsed on the ground in a state of grief.<p>I have interviewed families within hours of murders, but for some reason this whole affair makes me sick and ashamed. The guy learns from a reporter that his son's beheading is available for download, collapses, and people run the photo.<p>What a perversion of "ethics." But this whole war is a perversion, so what should we expect other than shit like this?<p>I'm off on union leave this week. My paper ran the photo. I am ashamed beyond words.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 8:47 pm 
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So are we all ashamed when our papers run photos of soldiers returning home in coffins? Or when a photo runs of Palestinians in grief as the body of a child is passed along in a funeral procession? Did any of us feel shame when the Iraqi abuse photos showed up in the papers, or was that different because it was news, never mind the fact that the families of the abused men and women might not like seeing the suffering of *their* relatives splashed all over the world media?<p>Is the concern in this thread simply due to the family being American? Am I seeing a double standard — we wring our hands over some things, but not others? If it was so terrible to run the photo of an American family grieving then, by God, I submit that we go to our executive editors and publishers and demand that there be a uniform standard and *no* photos of such nature be run. It might not get far but, hey, TPTB would know where *you* stand for the record. <p>Yeah, I suppose I'm coming across as a bit defensive. It appears I'm the only one in this thread who had a role in the decision process of whether or not the grieving father/son photo appeared in our paper and I voted the "wrong" way, never mind my intent at the time.<p>As for folks possibly being unable to place the context of a "grief" photo — well, if they can't tell that the photo goes with a certain story after getting through the headline, deckhead, body copy and cutline, then perhaps we need to restrict our design and writing to the fourth-grade level instead of the eighth-grade level.<p>Gatekeeper<p>-30-


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 9:15 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Gatekeeper:
If it was so terrible to run the photo of an American family grieving then, by God, I submit that we go to our executive editors and publishers and demand that there be a uniform standard and *no* photos of such nature be run. <hr></blockquote> <p>I not only endorse such a standard, I also once worked at a paper where that policy was in force for a time. It worked well. "Grief" photos aren't news. They are two-way intrusions. The nationality of the grieving relatives doesn't matter. Also, as was the case today, "grief" photos usually aren't very good.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2004 9:18 pm 
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The part that makes this situation different is that the AP reporter made the news. That photo, in some sense, was kind of staged. The reporter came and told the family what happened, then took pictures of the aftermath.
It is like pushing someone in front of a car and then taking pictures of it.
American or not, the method of getting that photo seems wrong to me.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 1:38 am 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp:
<p>I not only endorse such a standard, I also once worked at a paper where that policy was in force for a time. It worked well. "Grief" photos aren't news. They are two-way intrusions. The nationality of the grieving relatives doesn't matter. Also, as was the case today, "grief" photos usually aren't very good.[/QB]<hr></blockquote><p>If that's what TPTB at my paper ever endorse, I won't fight it tooth and nail. As it is now, the only official restrictions we have on photo usage is no blood and no "private" parts showing.<p>Gatekeeper<p>-30-


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 1:40 am 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by AshGarf:
The part that makes this situation different is that the AP reporter made the news. That photo, in some sense, was kind of staged. The reporter came and told the family what happened, then took pictures of the aftermath.
It is like pushing someone in front of a car and then taking pictures of it.
American or not, the method of getting that photo seems wrong to me.
<hr></blockquote><p>I'm just going on (possibly faulty) memory alone here, but the impression I had from reading the story was that *a* reporter had told them of the beheading video, not necessarily the AP reporter himself. Heck, it could've been a Reuters guy or somebody.<p>Gatekeeper<p>-30-


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 2:57 am 
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To comment on the original question, I would not include a URL to the site that showed the video.
Anyone who is really interested enough -- I hope no one -- to find the site obviously can with enought looking.
Posting the URL might send otherwise slightly curious Internet surfers to a sight they probably do not want to see.
With so many members of the press commenting on the video, I am sure it exists.
If only one person claimed to have seen the video on a Web site then it might be a different story.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 12:07 pm 
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I know the reporter and photographer involved in this. They were sent to the home after the U.S. government announced that Berg was dead. At the time, the family had known for a day that he was decapitated, but we didn't know that yet. Neither we nor the family knew at the time that the decapitation was videotaped and on the Internet.<p>While the reporter was interviewing the family, the story moved out of Egypt saying that Berg was decapitated and that his murder was videotaped and on the Internet. The brief story gave Berg's last words.<p>So an editor phoned the reporter, interrupting the interview with the family. The family pumped the reporter for information. At their request, he told them, verbatim, what was on the wire at the time. They collapsed to the lawn. The photographer took the pictures you saw. <p>I don't blame the reporter and photographer for anything they did. The part that's debatable is the AP photo editors' decision to put the pictures on the wire. But bear in mind, AP editors frequently make decisions based on an educated guess about what the members want. Judging by the play these photos got, they clearly are what members wanted.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 1:47 pm 
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I don't know about that. I've seen countless gruesome photos come across the AP wire and wondered aloud, "How would any paper use these?" Every suicide bombing in Gaza generates dozens of photos that never reach anyone but wire editors. What is your evidence that AP's photo editors are discriminating? Personal experience?


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 2:05 pm 
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I don't want AP photo editors deciding something like that. AP should just move the pictures and let editors decide whether to use them.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 2:16 pm 
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That's what I think they DO, and I concur.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 3:15 pm 
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One example of photo editors being discriminating is that the AP didn't move a picture of Berg's killer holding up his disembodied head.<p>I've seen it happen, though, with more ordinary pictures. For example, a few years ago, one of our shooters got pictures of a crime scene -- there was blood all over the living room. Editors decided not to put the pictures out. They concluded that the news value wasn't big enough to justify the grotesque nature of the pictures.<p>Sometimes, photos like that will be sent to subsribers abroad, but not to members in the United States, because American newspapers tend to be more prudish than those in many other countries.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 3:18 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Dapper Dan:
One example of photo editors being discriminating is that the AP didn't move a picture of Berg's killer holding up his disembodied head.<p>I've seen it happen, though, with more ordinary pictures. For example, a few years ago, one of our shooters got pictures of a crime scene -- there was blood all over the living room. Editors decided not to put the pictures out. They concluded that the news value wasn't big enough to justify the grotesque nature of the pictures.<p>Sometimes, photos like that will be sent to subsribers abroad, but not to members in the United States, because American newspapers tend to be more prudish than those in many other countries.<hr></blockquote><p>As I said, AP should move the pictures and let editors decide whether to use them.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 4:31 pm 
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I concur as follows: 1) "grief" photos aren't news; don't run them; 2) don't print the URL.<p>But I think we're missing a point: who said the government somehow blocked that URL? Do we know this is true? If so, that should be in the story (near the bottom). And who "in the government" blocks URLs? Do they have the right? Isn't that censorship? How (what is the mechnical mechanism) and what person(s)) perform that deed? It's completely a separate issue, but sounds like a story to me.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 5:02 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Paul Wiggins:
It would appear the site has been blocked by federal authorities, making the question academic.<hr></blockquote><p>Where?


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 5:07 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp:
<p>Where?<hr></blockquote> I heard on CBS news (via WTOP radio) this morning that the site was in Malaysia and was blocked by Malaysian authorities.<p>[ May 13, 2004: Message edited by: SusanV ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 9:10 pm 
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From a purely practical standpoint, publishing a URL to a high-bandwidth file is impractical. Websites are by nature highly fluid, and it doesn't make much sense to post a site that was up at 8:00 at night but could have easily been crashed by high demand by the time readers see it at 8 the next morning.<p>Ethically, I have never written, read, nor reported a grief or "family reax" story that was worth any time. They tend to have a serious desensitizing effect.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 9:43 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Paul Wiggins:
It would appear the site has been blocked by federal authorities, making the question academic.<hr></blockquote>In my experience, once something has appeared on the Internet, it's there forever. A particular URL may no longer be valid, but enough entities mirror and cache that another may well be. <p>It took me roughly 15 seconds to find several political sites offering downloads of the video. Admittedly, I didn't try to download it, but at least one site has a discussion board going on the topic, so I must conclude they do have it.<p>D.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2004 9:51 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Mike Billings:
Posting the URL might send otherwise slightly curious Internet surfers to a sight they probably do not want to see.
<hr></blockquote>It might teach them a lesson: That real life is not another sequel to the Friday the 13th movies. It might shake some of them sufficiently to civilise them. <p>Then again (she said cynically) it might not. <p>D.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2004 12:22 am 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp:
<p>Where?<hr></blockquote><p>
A link I had off a blog was met with a failure notice and a refer to the Department of Homeland Security.
I have found a site. I did not open the file.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2004 1:46 am 
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As a folo to the first-day grief invasion, many papers the next day ran a cheesecake shot of Sara Berg bending over on the doorstep to inspect flowers that had been delivered.
Image<p>[ May 14, 2004: Message edited by: SeaRaven ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2004 2:34 pm 
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I'm not sure that this means anything as far as the general public's interest in the video, but my site is quite high if you search for some variation of <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=+berg+execution+video&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8">"Berg execution video"</a> on the search engines today. I am getting thousands of hits.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2004 8:43 pm 
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What a thread.<p>I have seen the execution video in its entirety multiple times. I am not a gore freak, or a morbid rubbernecker--as another thread put it, I felt honor-bound to view what happened to Nicholas Berg. I was frightened and sickened about what I knew I would see, and it was worse that what I imagined, but I would do it all over again. How can we as reporters describe with accuracy that which we have not seen with our own eyes when we actually have the chance to? <p>So many papers and TV reports stated rather perfunctorily that he was "decapitated." Some mentioned his screams. To simply say Berg was "decapitated" does injustice to the horrific spectacle of his death. It would have been more accurate if it had been reported that Mr. Berg's head was hacked and sawed off with a large kitchen knife starting at the back and side of his back of his neck over a period of minutes, much of which he was alive during. One cannot scream without an intact windpipe and vocal cords. Since he does scream numerous times after the attack begins, I will let you do the math. An executioner with an axe or a guillotine "decapitates." In Berg's example, it is an understatement to use this word, and once again an example of US media candy-coating the hideous reality of this conflict and its
repercussions.<p>As has been noted here already, what is happening in Iraq is not a a video game. Americans should be able to see the flag covered coffins, the bodies hanging from bridges, the beheading; all the sideshows to the main event of death and carnage to a war that this nation brought to Iraq. War is an ugly thing, and as a general rule, Americans are more sheltered from the ugly aspects of reality than the rest of the world, while we revel in Hollywood manufactured gore, chaos, and catastrophe. <p>I will never forget Nicholas Berg, or rather, the last five minutes of his life. As Americans, none of us should. This is not to suggest that everyone MUST watch it, but the sheer brutality involved in his lengthy death should not be distilled to one or two rather dry and misleading words, but rather described in an accurate and honest manner that truly represents what happened to this man. That is what we report.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Sat May 15, 2004 9:06 am 
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Several conspiracy sites are already attempting to expose the video as a hoax.

I"ll let y'all track 'em down if you're curious.


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Sat May 15, 2004 1:36 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by slummingreporter:
And I do hope that someone hunts down the photog who snapped the pic of the father collapsing and shoves his Nikon up his ass.<p>[ May 15, 2004: Message edited by: slummingreporter ]<hr></blockquote><p>**shrug** Perhaps you missed it, but earlier in the thread Dapper Dan has a post explaining the situation regarding the roles of the reporter and photographer (he knows them).<p>Gatekeeper<p>-30-


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Sun May 16, 2004 12:16 am 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by tom mangan:
Several conspiracy sites are already attempting to expose the video as a hoax. .<hr></blockquote><p>Sadly, I believe anything when it comes to this war and this administration.<p>Just like I believe about 90 percent of the "contractors" over there are CIA agents.<p>Wait...there's one looking in the window here...


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 8:31 am 
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Don't ever say "my bad" in here again...


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 10:30 am 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp:
You are editing a story about the beheading of a U.S. citizen in Iraq. A video posted on a Web site purportedly shows the beheading. Do you include the URL?<hr></blockquote><p>The point that started this thread ...


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 Post subject: Re: The Testy Ethicist®
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 10:53 am 
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I think the most important point made in this thread (by blanp) is that AP should move the photos and let the editors at each paper decide what to publish. If it's true that AP withheld the photo of the militant holding up the severed head, that was wrong. Some paper may have wanted to run it. That's their decision.


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