I woke up this morning way too early to the news that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been killed in a U.S. airstrike. It’s a big story, and one that gets into a lot of the ethical and logistical issues that are reshaping newspapers today.
First, the news cycle. By the time, I got to work, I must have heard the name al-Zarqawi a thousand times. By the time Friday’s paper lands with a thud on the doorstep, it will be almost a day past prime. So our question this morning was how we present and play this story to give readers something new, without turning a hard news story into a feature story. There is a convergence between newspapers and the news magazines. We’ve become more interpretative. They’ve become faster-paced. But we don’t want to rush past what in the quest to explain why.
Second is the matter of photos. Among the dozens of pictures moving on the AP wire is a photo of a dead Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He’s been cleaned up a bit. But he is still dead. The shot is reminiscent of the photos of Saddam Hussein’s sons, after they were killed a few years back. The faces of death—even those of dead terrorists—are never easy to look at. We’ve had some discussions about whether and where to use, and they will continue through the day as we sift and evaluate through the copy and add our own touches and perspective to this event. If you have thoughts about publishing photos of the dead, let me know.
Your host is Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal. It's a forum to discuss the media, from
I think printing pictures of the dead is disgusting. No matter who the person is someone knew and cared about him/her. Every “monster” was some woman’s baby!
I think that the body was displayed for the people to be able to verify that he was actually dead, just as Husseins sons were, put on display for the same reason! It does seem a bit crude. I wasn’t born when John Dillinger the bank robber was shot and killed by federal agents outside of a movie theatre,here in the United States, but like myself I’m sure we have all seen old film footage of his dead body on display! News is for the public and sometimes it is not very tastefully done, in some situations!
Al-Zarqawi wanted his photo linked to beheadings, death and
suicide bombings. So it is fitting to give him a last photo
opp.
I wonder how many politicians children are serving in Iraq?
Not many, I’ll bet!! You never hear of any of their kids getting killed or wounded there.
I wonder how long this war would last if politicians families were in Iraq.
I wonder how many politicians children are serving in Iraq?
I’ll bet there are not too many! Some news media needs to look at this and report on it. But, I guess that’s asking too much.
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