Predictably, half of our most popular stories in the past week were about the one event dominating the news so far: the hanging of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
The execution has brought to the fore all the old arguments about the moral justification of the death penalty, the moral justification of the United States’s involvement in Iraq, the moral justification of the so-called war on terror … but our most popular report on the matter points to a more recent debate: the distribution of graphic news multimedia on the internet.
This week, it was reported that all video footage of the accidental death by stingray barb of Australia’s Steve Irwin would be destroyed — before it could leak on to the internet. A website had already offered $1-million dollar for the videotape, the reports said. It would certainly be a coup for no-holds-barred sites such as Goregasm.com to show the final underwater moments of the Crocodile Hunter.
Saddam’s last breath, on the other hand, was not carefully kept away from the media. Western television viewers saw, within hours of his death, how he was led to the gallows to have the noose placed around his neck. They were spared the final act — unlike viewers in Arabic countries, whose television stations famously do not pull punches with such material.
As the internet’s news offering grows, cases like these will occur more and more frequently, and news organisations have to decide where to draw the line.
The full Saddam video can be accessed and viewed within seconds on the web. The M&G Online did not post this video; in such cases in the past, involving for example beheadings in the Middle East, we chose to link to the content. We believe it is newsworthy, although we leave the decision to view such videos to our readers — no one is forced to click on
Camera footage of the final minutes of Saddam Hussein released on Sunday shows him being taunted by Shia hangmen and witnesses, a scene that risks increasing sectarian tension in Iraq.
3. US on Saddam: ‘We would have done it differently’
United States forces had no role in Saddam Hussein’s hanging, but would have handled it differently, a US general said on Wednesday after a video of Iraqi officials taunting him on the gallows sparked outrage among Sunni Arabs.
4. Saddam was model prisoner, says nurse
Saddam Hussein was mostly an uncomplaining prisoner who saved crumbs to feed the birds, watered weeds in the jail compound and believed that cigars were good for his health, according to a military nurse who cared for him in United States custody.
5. Wife is sixth suspect in Netshisaulu killing
City Press editor Mathatha Tsedu’s daughter-in-law is the sixth person to appear in court in connection with his son’s murder.
6. HIV tests for Oprah’s girls
Pupils from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls will be sent for HIV/Aids testing with their parents’ consent, said Oprah Winfrey at the opening of the school at Henley-on-Klip, Meyerton, on Tuesday.
7. Hangmen taunted Saddam with Shi’ite cleric’s name
Saddam Hussein’s executioners exchanged taunts with the former president as they prepared to hang him, invoking the name of a radical anti-United States Shi’ite cleric whose father was killed by Saddam’s agents.
8. Obese woman rescued from Cango Caves
An obese woman was freed ten hours after becoming trapped in a narrow passage in the Cango Caves, the Oudtshoorn metro said on Monday night.
9. Oprah Winfrey to open school for girls in SA
United States talk show queen Oprah Winfrey is due to open her long-awaited school on Tuesday — fulfilling a promise she made to former President Nelson Mandela six years ago and giving more than 150 poor South African girls a chance for a better future.
10. Girl tells police of repeated rapes by stepfather
A 15-year-old girl on Monday reported to police that she had repeatedly been raped by her stepfather since February 2006, Mpumalanga police said on Tuesday.