I'm puzzled by the reported fuss over whether or not to release photos of the dead Osama bin Laden. TV3 News had a photo of his bloodied, grotesque face in its 6pm News on Monday night, preceded by a warning that the picture was graphic (which it was) and that viewers might find it disturbing. Intriguingly, the same channel last night reported the White House's indecision over the release of the photo without mentioning that it had already appeared on their main evening bulletin two nights before. What's going on here? Did TV3 get heavied for broadcasting the image without authorisation? Was the photo shown on Monday night a fake? I think we should be told.
Obviously you missed the news on tuesday, it was stated that the picture was a fake
ReplyDeleteThanks for that Ray. Yes, I did miss Tuesday's news.
ReplyDeleteObviously someone at TV3 allowed the adrenalin of the big story to overcome what should be instinctive journalistic caution. Explaining that cockup to the viewers must have been like swallowing the proverbial dead rat.
Further to the above: TV3 wasn't alone in being sucked in. Several Fleet Street papers ran the fake photo too, as the New Zealand Herald reported.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10723030