Spineless

I've been reading with interest an entry on the BBC News Editors blog.

Its a discussion into the rights and wrongs of showing the pre hanging footage.

Some of the comments alarm me greatly. These appear to be adults condoning censorship and sanitisation. Quite why isn't entirely clear, I've copied a few of the comments below.

Is really quite simple you spineless cretins, If you take the "won't someone think of the children" approach you end up giving your offspring an entirely distorted view of the world leaving them less able to make considered judgements in the future.

The world isn't all pleasant or black and white.

"I was deeply offended by the footage shown. Yes, I did expect a modicum of dignity and perhaps compassion from the BBC for a man facing death. I am a viewer who tuned into BBC24 to see if there had been a last minute stay of execution or if it taken place - one minute I was watching a clearly moved Ramsey Clark then turned to get my coffee and was faced with those images."

"I was seriously shocked and shaken to see the footage of the noose being placed around Saddam's neck. I switched on the news and there it was - continually played, hour after hour, whenever the news was on, on both Sky and BBC. That means that all those receptions and offices and waiting rooms who play the news constantly showed the people waiting there footage of a man about to be hanged constantly."

"I am appalled at the lack of sensitivity displayed by the BBC in broadcasting Saddam Hussein's final moments before his execution. I do not engage in this level of voyeurism and I was not given the choice of changing channels."


Another thing that concerns me is the silence from Tony Blair on this subject. He's been very vocal on events in Iraq in the past.

Is this because he knows if he condemns the death of one man people will remind him of the tens/hundreds of thousands of deaths he is personally responsible for? I truly hope his belief in god is real because he knows he too will be judged for his actions.