Was it ethical to show gruesome images of the dying dictator Gaddafi?
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(ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE SCENES DEATH OR INJURY The body of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is displayed at a house in Misrata October 20, 2011/Thaier al-Sudani)
The threshold for publishing gruesome images like those of Muammar Gaddafi’s death is falling as the internet and social media make many of the editorial decisions that used to be left to a small group of professional journalists. The shaky video footage of Gaddafi’s last moments was such a dramatic end to Libya’s months-long struggle against its former dictator that many television stations around the world rushed to broadcast much of what they received.
Newspapers followed up on Friday morning, some splashing graphic photos of the bloodied former Libyan leader across their front pages while others opted for pictures of victorious anti-Gaddafi troops or file shots of Gaddafi in his heyday. Showing images of a person in the throes of death used to be a newsroom taboo, but even this is now giving way under the pressure of instant internet publishing and — thanks to camera phones — the increasing availablility of strong news footage.
“Over the past 10 years, whatever your society’s standards were, they’re notching towards more gruesome images,” said Kelly McBride, ethics expert at the Poynter Institute journalism training centre in St Petersburg, Florida.
In many cases, she said, news organisations now deal mostly with the question of how to publish a graphic but newsworthy picture rather than whether they should run it at all. “News editors are very aware that these images are available anyway,” said Ivor Gaber, professor of political journalism at City University in London.
Steven Barrett, professor of communications at London’s Westminster University, said there was no doubt the images would be used. “This was a momentous event in world history,” he said. Showing it was “not just to boost ratings”. Showing the footage was especially important in Libya and the Middle East, since the lack of such photographic proof of Osama bin Laden’s death prompted many people in the region to ask whether the al Qaeda leader had really been killed.
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What nonsense. Look at a crucifix, a “published” image of Christ’s death. Look at the engravings of the beheadings during the French revolution. What about the news reel footage of Mussolini hanging upside down and being battered by the crowd? Revise your article, and submit it for grading again. Otherwise, it’s an “F”.
Has the world lost its conscience completely? Did no one feel that stirring in the soul that is HUMAN when Gaddafi’s bloodied, battered body was paraded for the world to see and gloat? Shame on you Africa! Shame on you! Shame on you African Union! Shame on you! – That was your former President – President of the AU strewn around like a tattered, rotten rag; that was the same Gaddafi who played a huge role in Africa’s liberation struggles – in Angola, in Mozambique, in South Africa, in Namibia, in Uganda…treated like dirt at the behest of the west! Where is your dignity Africa? Where is your self-respect Africa?…how can you stand by and watch the western world deal you this hand? Haba! You still cannot get it into your heads that the west’s agenda is to keep Africa perpetually repressed? & they will continue to do all they can to eliminate African leaders that threaten this agenda? What do you really want from the west? What do you NEED from the west? Look inwards Africa! Look inwards! Look to yourselves for development and fulfillment…the west does NOT HAVE YOUR INTEREST AT HEART – they only want your resources – period! Wake up, Africa! Wake up! You owe it to generations to come.
you have no right to judge the fighters in Libya. Seating in your ivory tower drinking your fancy latté and passing judgment on others ethics and morality is not acceptable. when you live under Gaddafi regime for 40 years and fight brutal fight for freedom for the past 6 months, then talk to me ethics!!. I Have no respect for people like you, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Yes absolutely ethical to show the graphic images. People now should empathize with the thousands upon thousands of families who saw their love ones bloodied and mutilated by such a coward dictator. Bloodied bodies delivered to the families to scare everyone who dared to question an iota of Gaddaffi’s tyranny, was a common practice. Yes what you see is what so many Lybians experienced. The people in the West must understand that the release of these images by the media is a great leap in morals for humanity. Only by seeing a case of what Gaddaffi went through in his last moments, we could deduce what Lybians went through for 42 years.
It was not at all ethical in my view. Nor was it ethical to ‘celebrate’ the death/killing of him even if he was a killer himself. I am no supporter of dictators and killers and I believe the media is also playing its due role in promoting these unethical acts. Such acts, and their favourable coverage on the media, do not promote justice through due process. Why was the world’s most wanted Serbian general not ‘murdered’ on arrest?
…it never seems to amaze me that such disgusting images of death, destruction and mayhem are somehow acceptable… Yet for the media to publish a picture of a an attractive bare bosomed gal would be considered in poor taste, and the material would be considered unacceptable to publish by most editorial censors.
…the hypocrisy blows me away
My greatest fear is that images like this do nothing except continue a trend to desensitise humanity.The world is in a shocking state as it is without contributing to it. Gaddafi himself pursued a policy of murder and suppression and as the saying goes “if you live by the sword you will die by the sword”.