Was it necessary for NBC to air the video of the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili? Kumaritashvili was a luger from Georgia, who died during Olympic training last Friday. An article from Yahoo! Sports discusses whether it was the right decision for NBC to make.
I believe that if NBC was recording live, then they obviously had no choice but to show the video. However, I don’t think it was necessary to continue showing the video after the fact. If it was not being recorded live then it was not necessary to even show it in the first place. They could have accurately reported on the newsworthy incident and respected the team and family of Kumaritashvili without showing the video of the accident itself. What is your opinion?
The only problem is if there is a video/photo, it is going to be public. I mean, let's assume that NBC wasn't recording live and decided not to show the video. Someone else, maybe even someone from the NBC crew, would leak the visual. Public wants to "see" the news, and media is ready to pay for materials.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Diedre that it was unnecessary for NBC to show the clip of the accident over and over again. What surprised me was that the media went to the dead man's home town in Georgia and interviewed his family. I couldn't quite believe that they asked the guy's father if he'd seen the clip of the accident(he hadn't and said he didnt't want to). More to the point, who wants to see their kid dying over and over again?
ReplyDeleteI realize the media makes it its business to report anything and everything related to disasters and tragedies because that's what sells. But I also can't help feeling that there has to be limits. I wish they'd left the family alone.