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from the depends-which-side-you-are-on dept.
Erik Wemple writes at the Washington Post that Fox News recently took the controversial step of posting a horrific 22-minute video online that shows Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh being burned to death warning internet users that the presentation features "extremely graphic video." "After careful consideration, we decided that giving readers of FoxNews.com the option to see for themselves the barbarity of ISIS outweighed legitimate concerns about the graphic nature of the video," said Fox executive John Moody. "Online users can choose to view or not view this disturbing content."
But Fox's decision drew condemnation from some terrorism experts. "[Fox News] are literally — literally — working for al-Qaida and ISIS's media arm," said Malcolm Nance. "They might as well start sending them royalty checks." YouTube removed a link to the video a few hours after it was posted, and a spokesperson for Facebook told the Guardian that if anyone posted the video to the social networking site it would be taken down. CNN explained that it wouldn't surface any of the disturbing images because they were gruesome and constituted propaganda that the network didn't want to distribute. "Does posting this video advance the aims of this terror group or hinder its progress by laying bare its depravity?" writes Wemple. "Islamic State leaders may indeed delight in the distribution of the video — which could be helpful in converting extremists to its cause — but they may be mis-calibrating its impact. If the terrorists expected to intimidate the world with their display of barbarity, they may be disappointed with the reaction of Jordan, which is vowing "strong, earth-shaking and decisive" retaliation."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Gravis on Saturday February 07 2015, @01:21AM
the purpose of journalism is to report things that have or will happen, not to expose them to it. who is helped by posting such a video? it's certainly not the people who view it. this isn't journalism, it's a freakshow for people to gawk at.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 07 2015, @01:30AM
I see, so the corporate news media (who absolutely do watch the videos) are the self-appointed stewards of the truth. The public doesn't get to see primary evidence, because they would be gawking at a "freakshow". Despite the fact that only in the most backwards nations, like the UK, is viewing such material thought to be a crime.
If someone wants to see ISIS tyranny, let them see it. Who are you to decide that people aren't helped by viewing it?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday February 07 2015, @01:56AM
The US media in general has greatly sanitized war coverage in order to help support for war among the public. The ISIS video is being shown for the same reason, to help support the case for war.