Decision to broadcast US gunman video sparks controversy

NEW YORK: Television images of US university gunman Cho Seung-Hui delivering a hate-filled rant sparked controversy on Thursday, with many asking whether the networks had crossed the line by airing the video.   

Police and families of those killed in Monday's shooting criticized the decision to air the "disturbing" images, saying the public should not have seen the pictures, while others said the networks had played right into Cho's hands.   

Videos and images that the gunman sent to NBC News on Monday, apparently mid-way through his rampage at Virginia Tech University, feature the student posing with guns and calmly telling the camera: "You have blood on your hands".   

NBC executives reportedly spent hours agonizing over whether to broadcast the video and justified its broadcast in a statement that said the network would exercise restraint in how often it broadcast the material.   

"We believe it provides some answers to the critical question, 'why did this man carry out these awful murders?'," the network said.   

"The decision to run this video was reached by virtually every news organization in the world, as evidenced by coverage on television, on websites and in newspapers."   

Nevertheless, anchor Matt Lauer said, "There's going to be a lot of debate about whether we should have aired this." Another anchor, Brian Williams, added: "This was a sick business tonight, going on the air with this."   

CNN television broadcast the images, which it said provided a "powerful insight into the mind of a killer," while the FOX network said it had decided to stop broadcasting the images, without explaining its decision.   

Beyond the United States, the images hit televisions around the world.   

Suhail Samaha, the cousin of one of the victims, Reema Samaha, said he would rather not have seen the video. "It just didn't serve any purpose except to make me angry," he said.   

Virginia police superintendent Steve Flaherty also opposed the airing, telling reporters: "We're rather disappointed in the editorial decision to broadcast these disturbing images."   

"I just hate that a lot of folks who are not used to seeing that type of image had to see it," he said.   

Virginia Tech student Kiri Aitken said the video just proved to her that Cho was deranged, but she thought networks should show some restraint. "Like everyone, I was curious. I don't think they should keep replaying it."   

Richard Wald, a former president of NBC News and now professor of journalism at Columbia University said networks had to weigh up questions of legality, public interest and taste before deciding whether to broadcast such images.   

Their decision would backfire "If the public decides at some point that this was the wrong thing to do and it wasn't called for," he said.   

"If you're going to make a mistake on this kind of work, you should make the mistake in terms of serving the public, of giving the public information that it ought to have," he added.   

"My tendency would be to publish, to allow people to see what kind of person this was." He said of police comments that the public should have been shielded from such images: "That's nice, but that's not the world we live in.   

"There are rights that the public has too. People want a sense of who is this guy and where does he come from and how do you account for it. And they're entitled to know."   

Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, said the question over whether or not to broadcast came down to whether the networks could tell the story without being manipulated by their source.   

"The risk here is: are you allowing Cho to taunt and haunt people? Are you adding to the trauma or are you helping the public get an insight into how this can happen in their society?"   

Media outlets had to tread a fine line -- one that Rosentiel said had been crossed when images no longer informed viewers but played on their emotions. "Once you're not learning anything new, we're probably being used by Cho."   

Clint Van Zandt, a former profiler with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told the Los Angeles Times that airing the footage was just what Cho wanted. 
 "He wants to be able to reach his hand out of the grave and grab us by the throat and make us listen to him one more time," he said.