Slate posts Saddam execution video
Most networks and major news sites opted to not post or link to the entire video of Saddam being executed, stopping it before the actual hanging of Saddam. But not surprisingly, Slate, which often likes to break the rules (i.e. exit polls) went ahead and posted the entire video, with a "graphic content" warning.
Jan 03, 2007 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(2)
Discussion
2 comments about 'Slate posts Saddam execution video'I believe the Saddam execution video is an excelent example of citizen journalism, leveraging the power of online social media to shed compelling light on the situation in Irak for the entire world to witness. What really troubles me is how authorities are ardently persecuting those responsible for making the video. I believe the world has a right to see first-hand the realities of Saddam's execution, and I believe that the person responsible for filming the video and making it available online to be a journalistic hero. I hope more people around the world follow suit by documenting controversial events on their cellphones or portable cameras. Regardless of the motivations, this video is an act of courage.
Posted by Juan Pastor at January 4, 2007 10:34 AM
When the international controversy over the handling of Saddam Hussein’s execution dies down one important lesson will remain – the mobile ‘phone camera means no major event can go unrecorded and the Internet ensures even footage from a death cell in Iraq can be available globally and staggeringly quickly.
Last year’s London bombings and the Buncefield oil depot and Lewes firework factory explosions had already shown how amateur video and mobile phone pictures play an important part in the coverage of big breaking news stories, but the Saddam shots strikingly underline how the technology has put the tools of journalism into everyone’s pocket.
American journalist Dan Farber sums it up this way, “While the U.S. was chasing after Saddam Hussein's phantom weapons of mass destruction, the camera-enabled cell phone was beginning its journey from novelty to omnipresent recorder of history, with the Internet as its near instantaneous transport mechanism.” Farber, like others involved in Citizen Journalism, was not surprised the grainy ‘phone footage of the execution was soon on the ‘net and on his own site he predicts, “In the next few years billions of people will have phones with high resolution still and video cameras, GPS, geotagging, Bluetooth and plenty of network bandwidth and storage to document any point in time.”
Later this month a one-day conference in Birmingham will create the chance for the news industry, academics and citizen journalists to examine the issues raised as this kind of activity moves closer to mainstream newsgathering. Speakers will include Michael Hill, the newly appointed Head of Multimedia at Trinity Mirror, Vicky Taylor , head of interactivity at the BBC and Tom Reynolds, the blogger behind Random Acts of Reality. The event takes place at UCE Birmingham’s Screen Media Lab in Lower Eastside, Birmingham on Friday January 26th.
If this interests you take a look at the conference details on www.mediaskills.org.uk
Posted by Lucy at January 8, 2007 6:52 AM
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