大象传媒

The execution of saddam will make the middle east a no go area for christians and other non muslims.The destabilisation is now complete.

I think it's interesting that you've focused on the decency angle. When in reality, you've ignored the fact that this is nothing but US propaganda. Seeing the pictures of the execution aids no-one's understanding, so what's the point of showing them at all?

I see that it is still deemed to be breaking news on news24 14 hours after the event. Surely after this length of time it is just news.
The pictures that are shown of the execution group look like a bunch of terrorists with their balaclava and black jackets. What were you trying to show by broadcasting these pictures, that you have access to the footage?

Anyone who wanted to see these images could easily access them through video sharing websites or middle east news outlets.

But for broadcasters in a civilised Western country to show an execution - and I'm not interested in your pious 'we would have stopped short of showing the actual drop' qualification - is an absolute disgrace.

This sets a really poor precedent, notwithstanding the fact that all of your advertising-driven competitors where showing it.

Now that you have done this - what won't you show?

I look forward to seeing the next militant beheading in full (right up to the point when the knife touches the neck - we want to keep our moral compass don't we?)

I don't understand. You said that you decided "not to show the noose being put around Saddam's neck as there could be many children on school holiday watching". I've been watching News 24 all afternoon and they have continually been showing the noose being put around his neck. Not to mention the footage of him lying dead. The image of the noose around his neck is also on the front page of the 大象传媒 News website. Which version of 大象传媒 News are you actually controlling?

I am pleased the 大象传媒 have made the decision to broadcast all available footage of the moments before Saddam's execution. This story is of great public interest, and I see no reason not to provide viewers the opportunity to watch such an important event if they choose to do so.

This decision is unlikely to set a precedent as I can think of few figures whose execution would generate a comparable level of interest. If the material is being shown by other news organisations -- and bearing in mind that even the full film stops short of the actual execution -- then the 大象传媒 are doing no harm by broadcasting what has been made available to them.

Daytime television, especially at the weekend and during school holidays, is not the time to be showing graphic material, and I was pleased that the video shown on Breakfast this morning was faded at an appropriate moment. However, adults should be given the option of viewing all available footage -- with suitable warnings beforehand -- and the 大象传媒 is right to allow them this choice after the watershed this evening.

I was truly shocked that you decided to show "graphic images" of Saddam's execution on the 6.00pm news tonight. We really did not need to see all the immediately preceding and succeeding paraphanalia of the judicial killing even though you announced beforehand that the moment of execution itself would not be shown. Showing the graphic images of the deliberate slaughter of one human being by others is unforgivable on terrestrial national television at a time of day (and especially on a Saturday) when children and others of an impressionable age are watching alone. As older viewers can readily envisage what takes place at an execution, it really did not need your report to include these images. The editors who decided to screen these pictures did so simply because they had them and this was sufficient justification. It was a serious error of judgement on the part of those who decide these matters which jeapordises the 大象传媒's reputation for accurate reporting responsibly broadcast.

Regards

Andrew Robb

I think the correct decision was made, it is a current news story which is in public interest.

The footage doesn't actually contain the hanging of Saddam just the moments leading to the event.

Of course you will always get viewers causing a stir by not wanting the footage to be shown however the majority would support the decision.

I detested Saddam as much as the next guy, but I think the 大象传媒 and UK government have have placed themselves in an insidious position with his execution. For the UK government to even consider remaining quiet on his execution, given their support for Pinochet, and their refusal to extradite people to places with the death penalty just demonstrates the political nature of this punishment. for the 大象传媒 to show this footage seems to me to be pure jingoism -'yes we got him!', on a par with many of Bush's ill-considered comments on his capture.

Sorry Auntie - this time you done wrong.

I can understand the issue of children seeing horrific events and of course a very strong warning should be given.

That said the execution should have been shown in full as should the severed limbs and so on of solidiers and civilians, shot, burned and bombed in conflicts everywhere.

Only when people realise, by visual impact, the true horror of capital punishment and the truth behind statistics and the news reports will they say "Enough! No more war, no more sales of armaments."

After all, those who edit and then censor our news presumably don't 'crack up' so why should the rest of us?

I agree with Robert's comment (3) about Saddam's executioners looking just like terrorists. The footage looked like masked thugs executing another thug. Surely clinincal white clothing and surgical masks would have been a better choice for disposal of such a pathogen.

It would be tempting to sympathize with the devil himself under such circumstances; but should we give in to sympathy in Saddam's case? It strikes me that he was very lucky to be afforded the dignity of that execution method.

If the punishment had truly fitted the crimes, he'd have been castrated by Kurdish widdows and flushed down an enlarged toilet by some righteously angry Marsh Arabs.

Murdering dictators need to be actively discouraged. Bad Mad Mugabe will be next, I hope.

People in the UK should watch his death, safe in the knowledge that we did this.

He is dead because of us - whether that's morally a good or bad thing, Hussein is dead because Tony Blair lied to drag the UK into this ill conceived, poorly planned and poorly executed war.

It's a little late to be coming over all squeamish about it now.

I counted three times,Saddam Hussein
being referred to as a "pariah" on your news.I believe his death was un
necessary,truimphalism and politically
motivated.It was also wrong and shameful that he was disposed of just prior to a muslim festival.It says it all for me that no member of our government or Bush would/could not comment.I believe the Iraqui government is a puppet of the american
and english troops and that the whole
war was wrong and politically ,financially and morally wrong.There were no WMDs,just two fanatics making war with no long term
thought-a lot of people suffered for their callousness and greed for glory-aif Saddam deserved punishment,then he
should have been imprisoned for life.
I am appalled that his execution is to be televised after all,but not
surprised,in this age of schadenfreude.

Thankfully I have recently got rid of my television and therefore did not have to suffer pictures leading up to an execution. This is an absolutely barbaric act in my opinion and one which is no longer practiced in a civilised country and I can see no reason whatsoever for showing any images of it. Can't it just be reported without the addition of video? Exactly what purpose does it serve?

For years we have been viewing pictures of the children of Africa with the noose of hunger around thier necks. Was that entertainment. Was it news. Are we outraged.

What are people {critics of the 大象传媒 reporting} pretending to care about?

Their sensitivities have been outraged for today. Thats all.

marie

I was surprised to see the noose going over Hussein's head, but for one moment only. This was News 24.

No one was ever going to show his death afterall and there is certainly no moral highground. There is blood and death and far worse on TV before the watershed.

Hussein's life has largely been played out to the world - this was his choice - he relished self publication and now it is just that his final day be shown to the world.

The editorial decision was correct, I am sure.

I have to agree with David Donald - i was pleased that 大象传媒 News this morning on 大象传媒1 showed preparation before the execution only. This was apparently (as said by the newsreader) a decision made by the 大象传媒 at the time to limit what would be shown.

By 11am this previous decision had been wiped out and i watched with some suprise Saddam as was led to the gallows, noose sitting there, but not on him. This was 大象传媒1 not News24.

I was really disappointed and a little shocked to see the change of mind by the Beeb - i'm not a squeamish person at all, but this was in seriously bad taste. I didn't need to see that much to believe it had happened.

This was not your footage,was it?. It was provided to you, and in choosing to show what is in effect US propaganda courtesy of its puppet "government" in Iraq, I think you made a very serious error of judgement. This is so, not because of questions of taste and decency, but because it was made clear by the US very early on that this footage was taken (and then made widely available) 'to prove to the Arab world that Saddam had really been executed' and it was additionally made clear that the footage was expected 'to quell Arab conspiracy theories'.

I expect the 大象传媒 to show better judgement than to act as a propaganda outlet for a country whose latest aggression via proxy in Somalia threatens to repeat the disaster of Iraq within the Horn of Africa. Please start acting maturely and dispassionately, or you'll simply become the Voice of America (Airstrip One Division!).

Won't someone please think of the children??!!??

With all the pain and sorrow in the world, it is a silly thing to try to shield children from the realities of death and government.

If we are too ashamed of what is being done that we don't want our children to know about it, perhaps we shouldn't be doing it at all.

"We are showing it on News 24 as people actively have to choose to watch the news channel" You're kidding, right?
Do you ever leave your office? News 24 is playing to passive viewers in far more places than 大象传媒1 - in all my local banks, doctor's surgery, dentist - and many more, where kids are waiting, bored, staring at the telly screen. And most are silent, with no words to explain the context of potentially disturbing images to confused kids. You seriously need to reconsider the policy informoing your "active/passive" viewing decisions. If you genuinely care about these things more than scoops and viewing figures.

The death of a person is not something to be taken lightly, I do not think the killing of Saddam will solve the problem in Iraq. On the the other hand bringing the person to justice for his crimes is something that every civilised country should uphold. I do believe there is a right for this to be shown on TV and it is an individuals right whether he or she wishes to view it. The 大象传媒 are not participating in the act just reporting it has happened and trying to do this accurately without offending the public.
To be honest I would have preferred if Saddam had been sentenced to hard labour and felt a little punishment, he has now been set up to be a martyr which cannot be good.

Thanks for publishing my points of view.We all know that the so called "War" was an excuse for oil-not to mention the Israilies-and for the pecuniary advantege of the U.S.of A? Mr Bush (alias The Shrub in my mind-AND Mr.Blair (alias:Theres a good dog!)would,in my opinion,learn a lot if the former spent a month on Death Row in Florida and the latter tried to survive as as an immigrant.Saddam was a pussycat in comparison - this does not mean that i have no feelings for british and american soldiers/people who gave their lives. Saddam was no saint,but he did not deserve the death sentence via a pretence of a fair trial!We should all be ashamed for allowing the war to happen - and for his death

Oh come on auntie! You lead us on and then refuse to show us the best bits. What an old spoilsport you are; not to mention total hypocrite. Why didn't you show us any images at all of all those unarmed men, women and children who died when our lying PM bombed Baghdad? You never know, it might have stopped him from lying in the future; but, of course, that we'll never know.

=Is there no real forgiveness in this world?I object-and I am pleased that Amnesty did the same-we are ruled by hypocrites!

i appreciate that making a decision to show the execution of saddam must be very difficult for the bbc.your account suggests that it was an exclussive you felt you had to air having invested so much by way of your reporters! i however disagree that the bbc has to show the whole process(no thanks for sparing us his dying throes as you did not have the footage either). the babarity of public execution- as this is what it was- demeans us as civilised people.the sanctity of life is not only applicable to western peoples but to an arab dictator as well. it would have been adequate to show his corpse in the shroud for those who needed convincing that the tyrant was indeed dead. i was struck by the man's dignity in the face of certain death which was in marked contrast to his executioners who hid behind balaclavers. iraqis and the fundamentalist right in america may want to see this form of macabre justice but i doubt if the average rational british licence fee payer does.

Kevin, Your talk about the watershed is just plain wrong - who are you trying to fool? And you should be fired for this. I was watching 大象传媒 television with my young children present earlier this evening and saw footage of the Saddam on the gallows, with the noose plainly visible. This was the most disgusting act of editorial bravado I have ever seen on television. You should be ashamed of yourself for the effect this will have on hundreds of thousands of kids who saw this on 大象传媒 TV news.

I and my children do watch the news, whether its on SKY or 大象传媒. I now believe that we should have the choice over whether to pay these so called reporters of the 大象传媒. They have become the "Sun" of the television. Its quite simple, I have brought my children up to believe that we are a civilised society. We should now be given the choice to pay for a TV licence or not. As of today I am cancelling my direct debit. I prefer to be taken to court over the disgust I feel for the people working for the 大象传媒 rather than ignore the damage they have done in the past 24 hours to the decency and democracy we live in.

As this (almost) shows the reality of a lynching I though it was right to show it. Hopefully more people will be revolted at the idea of "judicial" killings.

It was also justified in view of the leading role of the UK in bringing about the present day conditions in Iraq.

I do not uphold that capital punishment is decent or civilised, I understand that the executioners would need to keep their identity hidden against future reprisal but the whole episode is reminiscent of the murders by the 'insurgents' of western hostages all Sadam needed was the orange overalls. I do not believe it necessary to do anymore than report the execution, are we going back to the days of Tyburn?

I believe that in showing this footage the 大象传媒, amongst others, has made a dreadful error of judgment. The custom of standing round to gawp at the condemned man mounting the gallows was one that, mercifully, ceased centuries ago.
Finding that this is now an experience to be shared with millions around the world does not ameliorate its shocking effect.
The footage may be suitable for those in Iraq with a genuine need to see justice meted out, but it has no place amongst wider society, other than to encourage those with a misplaced and prurient interest.
I'm sickened, quite honestly.

Jacob (6), you are absolutely right and I am glad that the picture on the 大象传媒 News frontpage has been changed now.

news.bbc.co.uk is a "permitted" site (ie it can be accessed without an admin password) on the home computers of several parents I know, as well as in schools and libraries. Sometimes it's even set as the homepage. An image that disturbing is inappropriate.

That said, any takers on how many papers on displays in the shops tomorrow will have that image full-size on their frontpage?

I am absolutely horrified by the truth that the 大象传媒 televised the execution/death of a human-being, even if that human-being committed unspeakable acts, because we would want to witness it. What kind of people have we become that we would want to witness the spectical of a man minutes from his death and then lying in his shroud? It serves no purpose but to humiliate and degrade us, not the man going to his death.

I watched those images today which I found sickening and now I am left feeling the guilt and the shame of doing so.

I had an interesting conversation with my 11 year old this morning who watched the story on the news and he thought it was cool that a "nasty man" had been killed, and with a pang I explained to him that the death of another was never right and it was far better to deal with the problem before it became a problem. I am not convinced it was right to hang Saddam, however I am pleased that one more tyrant has been removed from Planet. However this is not without some concern for the rest of us left to move forward. My thoughts are with Saddams Family who obviously feel the same as the rest of us would.

The last public hanging on the island of Great Britian was carried out in May 1868. I assume the Capital Punishment Act (amendment 1868) did not include outlawing the public broadcasting of executions? Perhaps the 大象传媒 et al. are breaking the law?

I just wanted to add this quote. It is quote worthy... "All of our notions of modernity and progress and all our advances in technological expertise have not brought an end to war. Our declaring the notion of sin to be obsolete has not diminished human suffering. And the easy answers: blaming technology,or, for that matter, the world's religions, have not solved the problem. the problem, C.S. Lewis insists, is us." -K. Norris

When it comes down to it, Saddam , though, unrepentant, was still a life. No need to exploit his death. He was not the only one guilty.

It's news. Whatever your political, religious or other views, the 大象传媒 should broadcast it. I pay enough for my TV license without the 大象传媒 deciding to edit out bits of it. 大象传媒 News is about all I watch from the 大象传媒 these days, so make it worth watching.

I totally agree with all the comments that it was disgraceful and unneccesary to show the video footage of this execution. The argument that it is OK after the watershed and on active news station is totally irrelevant. Either it is acceptable to show the last moments of a man's life or is it not. And I see no news value or public interest in this - it is a descent to tabloid senstationalism.
I have made an official complaint about this - perhaps others who feel strongly could consider doing this as well. It might make the 大象传媒 think seriously about their news values.

Whatever the wrongdoing of the man, I find the images I have seen on 大象传媒 news television today of the moments before his being put to death quite appalling. Is it right for a national news television service to show to the general viewing public what is little short of a pornographic "snuff" movie? Public viewings of executions were rightly discontinued in this country in the mid 19th century after coming to be regarded as uncivilised. Has the 大象传媒 abandoned this principle?

J Burke

We as a nation, and as citizens of the EU, are officially against the barbarism of the death penalty wherever it is used. As a Christian, I fully support this position.
It therefore seems wrong to me for our natioanl broadcaster to glorify the act in any way by showing unnecessary pictures. Report the news, fine, but that's all that's needed.
Doubtless Saddam was a criminal, due appropriate punishment. Killing another human, by anyone, is wrong. Two wrongs do NOT make a right.
I have no sympathy for Saddam Hussein, however, the news that he had been executed, heard on 大象传媒 radio, saddened me. As I feared saturation coverage on 大象传媒 TV and other channels, I have left the set turned OFF all day.

I cannot see any justification for showing the scenes leading to to-day's execution. We live in a country which is opposed to the death penalty and so no members of the public should have such images brought into their living rooms. We can all imagine the processes leading up to an execution without seeing them. To stop short of the final act of killing seems incidental.

Personally I'm amazed at the opposition in some of the above comments. Hussein's execution is a hugely significant news story and the video footage is symbolic in what it shows. It is much less violent or graphic than a considerable number of scenes in other television programmes, adverts or movies - including those pre-watershed. Granted these mediums have an "it's just actors" edge, but why should 大象传媒 News be criticised for delivering important content that is highly pertinent to the current situation in Iraq?

The 大象传媒 continues to beat all the other news agencies in getting the balance right, and report on a credibly consistent basis without prejudice. That John Simpson was one of few on-site reporters is a situation to be thankful for.

And I'm fed up listening to folk complain that they are forced to watch the footage. If you can't take the reality, switch the channel. It's done with one button press and is surprisingly easy.

Just reading through these comments you can see how divisive an issue this is. It would be interesting to see the respective oinions of the don't-shows to do-shows over the morality of the execution in itself.

For the record...I wouldn't have liked to make the decision to show or not so all respect to you guys at the beeb!

"Saddam would probably be killed"

Interesting choice of word.
Not 'executed' or 'hung' ...

As for the footage I think that it should have been shown. Why not bring that brutality of the moment into our rooms - after all we are politically involved in that country and have been since we supplied Saddam with his military needs.

This stuff matters. We should see it.

It's interesting reading the most popular "have your say" comments that many readers think that both Bush and Blair should be tried for their role in a war of aggression against Iraq which constituted a Crime against Peace as defined by the Nuremberg Charter and the Nuremberg Judgment.

Neeldess to say none of the mainstream media will touch this subject with any seriousness and even if in some bizarre fantasy land they were tried and sentenced to death, I wonder if the likes of the 大象传媒 would show them being led up to the gallows to be hung like Saddam has been?

It's a laughable thought really, especially given that none of the media have even bothered to raised the question of Blair or Bush resigning over the death and destruction they have brought on the Iraqi people.

Dear Sir

Congratulations on lowering the standards of the 大象传媒 to the lowest unspeakable levels I could imagine.

I am ashamed that as a country we have finally 鈥済iven in鈥�.

For some time I have seen the 大象传媒 spending public subscription pushing the boundaries of public decency - but this really is the pits.

I hope you are all very proud 鈥� you should all be ashamed of yourselves.

I hope the Director General of the 大象传媒 seems fit to consider his position over this and takes with him those responsible for editorial issues.

Yes I know all the arguments about what everyone else is showing 鈥� BUT YOU WERE NOT MAN ENOUGH TO REFUSE THE TEMTATION OF SHOWING FLY ON THE WALL VIEWING.

I feel you would have earned worldwide respect be reporting this issue in a professional manner and not becoming part of the pond life journalists we see from around the world.

We have an elected government 鈥� can we not trust them to inform us of such sensitive issues?

Yours in disbelief

I H Wilkinson
Lancashire

I suppose I should be surprised that posters can't separate their opinions on the war and on showing proof of Hussain's hanging. But sadly I'm not.
For Iraqui's the issue was to dispel rumour that 'he wasn't really dead'; for the West it was to show what was happening in an important news item.
As an adult I am able to choose what to see; who gave the likes of Anthony S, Jacob, Michael W, etc the right to choose for me?
I am opposed to capital punishment; but try as I might I cannot find a valid alternative to Hussain's execution. However this is an entirely different issue. I'd have expected the 大象传媒 to make the same decision if S. Africa had decided to execute Nelson Mandela after his trial all those years ago.

A wise and sensible approach by the 大象传媒. Any decision not to show the footage would have sent viewers to one of the many rival networks that did show it. In this information age there is no shortage of internet outlets for the worst of Iraqi violence, including the barbaric beheadings that have occured there. It is good to see that some consideration was given to the issue of what to show during the earlier hours. Some broadcasters, such as the US Fox Network not only showed the Saddam footage, but the newsreaders and commentators were gleeful in their joy, which was disgusting, unbalanced and biased. Good on the 大象传媒.

I believe the 大象传媒 made the right decision on this - after all, people only learn when faced with the consequences of their actions, and seeing the dead corpse of Saddam Hussein, I hoped, shocked people as to the full extent of what is going on in Iraq (and around the world) due to British and American intervention.

That the execution had to happen now when Saddam still had criminal charges against him smacks of American intervention (after all, the massacre of Dujail that he was sentenced on happened WHILE he was supported by the US).

As to any charges of slipping morality or whatever, it takes but a simple search to find some TRULY horrific things - innocent civilians torched alive, with their charred bodies hanging upside-down in the street. That is something I'd question. Saddam Hussein - dead - wrapped in a white shroud I would not. And I've been watching 大象传媒 news since I was 11 years old. It doesn't shock me now and it wouldn't have shocked me then.

I personnally would not watch a hanging by a verdict from a Kangaroo Court,nor do I recognize the verdict from a British/American puppet Government,I do understand the need for some peoples to know he is truly dead.I do not fault the 大象传媒 for doing their job and reporting on this which I feel is the most important event of 2006.

When people were hung in the UK there was a way of reporting and showing the hanging. Why not simply go by those guidelines? Apart from the fact that it looked like he was being executed by gangsters the principal is the same.

Take off the kid gloves - whether you agree or disagree with capital punishment, shying away from showing a hanging merely mystifies it; which is not a wonderful thing, since mysterious things tend to draw a larger audience. Also, there are pictures being broadcast and shown of Saddam when he's dead. What's the difference between showing him dead and him being executed?

Would people expect you to show footage that every other media outlet in the world was showing?

Of course they would.

The question as to how much you would show is obviously a difficult one but its not a story you can avoid.

Having seen much of the coverage from the 大象传媒, Sky, Fox, CNN & Al Jazeera today I have to commend the broadcasters as a whole for the measured approach they have taken on this difficult subject.

My only concern is that the commentators I have seen all seem to have taken the view that capital punnishment is wrong. There seemed to be little commentary from those who disagree (and i suspect this is a fairly large proportion of the public).

Perhaps thats something that can be considered in editorial meetings in coming days.

I agree with the comment posted by Frank. Especially if we harken back to the pictures of Saddams dead sons plastered all over the tabloids. It is not however the job of the 大象传媒 to censor us from the very real results of our, as a nation, having supported and prosecuted this war. The 大象传媒 should be showing us in detail the cost of that decision. The cost to Saddam, the Iraqi people and the British service men, women and families! Then maybe we will be better placed to decide wether to support any other future invasions based on American foreign policy.

Whilst I have no pity for Saddam, I truly fear we have done a terrible deed in allowing his to happen.

Killing this man lke this publicly but allowing him to show his defiance to the ned has allowed him to become a martyr in the eyes of some of his disciples.

More death and destruction to come?

We could and should have sent him to the Hague to be kept in a secure *Neutral* prison for the rest of his life after having tried hiim for each and every one of his war crimes.

The other people he murdered will now not get their chance of justice and I fear we have allowed Saddam to meet the Devil and wreek havoc on us from beyond the grave.

Bush, Blair and the other cronies really do have a lot to answer for - I just hope that when they're out of office and on a holiday - to say somewhere like China - that they aren't 'arrested' and tried as war criminals themselves - think about it: They went to war without a UN Mandate

Either way, the 大象传媒 can't win. One minute they're anti-American; the next, the voice of American propaganda. If the 大象传媒 *hadn't* shown the brief footage they did, the very people complaining about it would be up in arms that the 大象传媒 was whitewashing the event in some pro-Arab stand. You're all hypocrites.

TV news is there to show us the pictures of the news. If you don't want to see any of the often-disturbing pictures that go with our news, look away or listen to the radio. Ample warning was given and so the choice became yours to watch or not watch - and I say this as someone who didn't want to see it either.

The news these days is uncomfortable viewing. Sanitising it merely gives the population a distorted view of reality. Yes, these things really do go on in our world, and it's about time us in our cozy western houses realised it.

I don't envy the very difficult decisions the 大象传媒 has to make, such as this one, but I trust them to find the correct choice.

Let me know when you have stopped showing it then I will switch on the TV again.

Im sorry but how many people who have commented here sat and watched the terrible events of 9/11 on 大象传媒 when it happened? And I bet none of you complained and yet the biggest complaint it seems here is that you had to watch someone be killed. Actually you didn't have to watch Sadam be executed - you saw before and after basically. But surely if you watched the events of 9/11 you were watching hundreds of people being murdered and no-one complained about it. Only of course their deaths were worse as those people in the twin towers were innocent. Hussein was not. Think about it, how is watching his death any different from the others you have watched on the news? The only difference really is that at that moment the news is focusing on one man and not many like when you see footage of a bomb explode. And surely watching many people (usually innocent) die at once is worse than watching a dictator being hanged?

Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating that Sadam should have been executed, personally I don't think he should have been but that's my personal opinion, I just don't see why people are complaining about the footage being shown, when really, the news has shown much worse when you think about it.

And to the people who complained about their children seeing Sadam with a noose - I'm sure they've watched a lot worse on TV shows than that before.

What are these people talking about?
We DIDN'T see the execution.
That is the whole point - we don't even know if he is dead.
A picture of a body afterwards means nothing - remember - he had 12 to 15 doubles while he was alive!

Well, it seems there are two prevailing points of view above: 1) It was a bad decision. It was shameful, distasteful and barbaric. It glorified capital punishment (and, some would add, was at least borderline propaganda). While it's rather quaint (and very 大象传媒) that consideration was taken to show certain images on certain channels at certain times, this didn't go far enough and never could have. The actual decision taken with regard to 'active' news watching on News 24 was a nonsense (well spotted, Rupert, above at number 22). Moreover, stopping short of showing the actual moment of death doesn't get the 大象传媒 off the hook. The damage to our children will have been (and has been) done anyway.

2) Others have said it was a good call. This is news. Our government shares some responsibility for bringing this situation about where this man (even if he was a brutal tryant) is killed by the verdict of a questionable court, for not all of his crimes (or even arguably his most serious ones), at an inappropriate time (an important Muslim religious festival and while Iraq is still under occupation), by uncivilised means and effectively by a masked gang of cowards (or, at least, people dead set on revenge). This viewpoint is that, because it's a lynching, we should be shown it by the 大象传媒 and so be ashamed of ourselves. People might feel a twinge of sympathy for this evil man, then remember who he was, and be led to think about the moral position of our own society. There is also a recognised need to convince everyone (especially the conspiracy theorists) that Saddam is really dead. (And besides, Sky is showing it on Sky News... And those who don't like it can hit the 'off' button!!)

What do I think? Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of capital punishment and the execution/crime, whether the 大象传媒 should have shown it comes down to a question of whether showing the killing of a human being is more distasteful or educational. While I appreciate that it's a very tough call, and the inclination for journalists is always to report what they see, in a civilised society surely it is unnecessary and inappropriate to gawp at the taking of human life, or to encourage the gawping. The lesson need not be taught so graphically. If the decision was made for commercial reasons, that really is shameful. And the 'off' button argument is a joke at best; it completely misses the point. While I understand the decision, I would have hoped for better from the 大象传媒. Sadly, as it happens, I'm not surprised at all.

I say you have the right to show whatever you feel people want to know. Alot of the Shiites and Iraqis were still leary and didn;t believe the Deed was done and continued to fear he may come back to Power. I will only say to the posters above, If you will kindly read up on the millions of innocent people this tyrant and his army killed, you would realize he needed to be removed. Put yourselves in the same place as his victims and then comeback with your comment. Believe what you will .. However , Justice was done! Above all you have a choice to watch it or to turn it off. It's important you have a choice.

Many many people are disgusted at what was reported regarding the execution of Saddam Hussein. However, many more people should be even more outraged at what is NOT being reported on the 大象传媒 nearly everyday....and I am not only talking about Iraq.

I heard someone say on a news broadcast one time that we (the free world) are Politically Correcting ourselves to death and maybe we need to grow a spine and not care so much about it. The hanging should have been broadcasted and the viewer can make their own decision to view it or not.

I deplore the extensive execution footage - I didn't expect a respectable media organisation like the 大象传媒 would join the ranks of other tacky American-style television stations by showing such a brutal act so graphically. On 大象传媒 World, there was no warning whatsoever about the disturbing pictures. If I had children, I wouldn't want them to watch the execution nor the dead body, thank you very much. It was just like a medieval public execution aimed at drawing a curious crowd - how utterly uncivilised and tasteless. Now I see the 大象传媒 is just as bad as one of these many tacky "infotainment" channels around the world.

Two points. The more people who are shocked, horrified, disgusted etc etc etc by the execution, war, indiscriminate killing etc etc etc, televised or not, the better. There was a second camera in the chamber, an apparently unauthorised camera phone, which showed the whole thing.

The second point, made by Richard, that "After all, those who edit and then censor our news presumably don't 'crack up' so why should the rest of us?", WRONG! I spent 30 years in the TV industry as an operator, and my duties often required me to edit out footage deemed too graphic for news viewers. They were sometimes a lot worse than an execution. Not only couldn't I sleep sometimes for days, I ended up, at 50 years old, a psychiatric patient on a disability pension, never able to work again. I still get nightmares from some of the stuff I was "privileged" to see.

Can appreciate your dilemma, and think you probably got things about right.

However had not a precedent actually been set?

When the Ceaucescus were shot/killed/executed (Mark Riley take your pick) did you not then as in this case show the footage leading up to but not including the moment when the shots were fired?

And in that case was the obvious distress of Mrs Ceaucescu not more likely to prove difficult for many viewers to stomach?

Incidentally, did you have access to the entire execution, or only that section you actually showed? I ask since in view of the Iraqi government (?) claiming that Saddam was a "broken broken man" who was treated with respect and dignity right up until the end, reports today of footage circulating of him reacting with contempt to taunts from his executioners and witnesses are quite interesting.

Did the video released really stop short of the hanging itself purely out of decency?

I am appalled at the lack of sensitivity displayed by the 大象传媒 in broadcasting Saddam Hussein's final moments before his execution. I do not engage in this level of voyeurism and I was not given the choice of changing channels. For those people for whom pleasure or curiosity was their reason for watching such a tragedy, the option of accessing the footage on websites was always available to them.

The execution of another human being, whatever the crime, is not something that the 大象传媒 should be broadcasting as 'news'. Even Saddam should have been afforded some privacy as he faced his own death. I have no sympathy for Saddam Hussein but was distressed by the tragedy of his final moments. For those who want to promote Saddam as a martyr for a cause - you gave them everything they needed.

We are horrified at the broadcasting of executions in other legal and illegal contexts - stopping short of te 'drop' did not make the 大象传媒 better than other sadists!

I remember channels showing executions by the Nazi's/Taliban (one in football stadium if I remember) etc. and people seem to have little problem with that...we saw replays of planes hitting the twin towers, see infra-red images of smart bombs hitting their targets and even the body of Pope John Paul II...yet a noose going around someones neck causes all these outraged sensibilities???

I am against the death penalty however it was as newsworthy footage as anything from September 11th. It was broadcast with a 'health warning' if you watched it, it's because you wanted to...unless you happened to change channels at that exact moment however you could of still looked away!

As for children, parents should stop blaming everyone else and take control over what tv they watch/video games they play etc...

It's amazing how many parents I see buying 18+ video games for their kids and yet you know they'd be the first to be outraged over something like this!

I support the 大象传媒's decision to show the judicial killing of the former head of state of Iraq. I remain dismayed that it was initial British military involvement that allowed what appeared to be a lynch mob of hooded terrorists to carry out this barbaric proceedure. Is this democracy? What further suffering will the Iraqi people have to enjure?. British poititians who supposidly oppose the death penalty, and who did nothing to prevent this execution, should hang their heads in shame!

I don't recall any criticism being referred to in the WWII news footage of Heinrich Himmler after he took cyanide, and I'm sure children were exposed to that at the time. I don't view seeing him about to be executed as any worse than many thousands of screen deaths that most children will have seen before. Rather this than allegations and paranoia about cover ups and state murder done in secret. The trial was publically held for a reason, so was the execution.

And it wasn't a war by Bush and Blair for oil, let's please put that one to bed, it would have been far cheaper to just buy the damn oil! The war hasn't been particularly well run, but to put Bush and Blair on the same level as Saddam is insane. If you blame every death in Iraq on B & B, rather than those who actually pulled the triggers and planted the bombs, you might as well blame Bush and Blair for every murder in their own countries as well!

Ultimate responsibility rests with the killers, no-one else, democracy means people have freedom to do what they want, and also the responsibility that goes with it. Do not absolve the militias of their responsibility.

I would have liked to see more linkage back to comments made when the constitutation/laws were passed - was this 30 day limited expected etc.

I found the coverage of saddam's execution disturbing. An man lost his life because of crimes against humanity. This should surely be reported in a sombre manner whatever views are held on the rights or wrongs of execution. From 4a.m.yesterday ,there has been a lip-smacking excitement - the details of, for example, who wore what and whether Saddam's hands trembled, were repeated over and over again, and the tiitilating promise that the event had been filmed and we would soon be able to see the'real thing' almost up to the last moment. the bbc seems to think that some how it was morally okay to hatch up the entertainment value, so long as we did not see the actual moment of death. But we saw up to a few secconds before - we could see an elderly man facing severe and frightening punishment. I have managed not to see this filming by not watching any tv news for 2 days - many children will have seen this footage. One reporter said it was 'absolutely fascinating' = is that really what he meant and thought. I have been previously horrified by the reports that Saddam had enjoyed seeing people tortured. I didnt think the bbc would find similar events fascinating.
Please think whether this really was the best that the bbc could do?

I was deeply offended by the footage shown. Yes, I did expect a modicum of dignity and perhaps compassion from the 大象传媒 for a man facing death. I am a viewer who tuned into 大象传媒24 to see if there had been a last minute stay of execution or if it taken place - one minute I was watching a clearly moved Ramsey Clark then turned to get my coffee and was faced with those images. Unpleasant and unnecessary. It seems even our most august institutions have have now become like those we/I most despise - so take a bow the gutter press and Sky News.

I was seriously shocked and shaken to see the footage of the noose being placed around Saddam's neck. I switched on the news and there it was - continually played, hour after hour, whenever the news was on, on both Sky and 大象传媒. That means that all those receptions and offices and waiting rooms who play the news constantly showed the people waiting there footage of a man about to be hanged constantly. When I went online to check the news (knowing other events must have happened) I deliberatly chose the 大象传媒 website as opposed to Sky because I thought it wouldn't show such an horrific picture right on its front page. I was wrong.

Pubic executions were banned becasue they appealed to the basest, lowest, most animalistic instincts of humanity and we were supposed to be rising above that. Shame to the 大象传媒 for pandering to bloodlust, and returning to the days of public execution

With the mild warning given by John Simpson, and during the beginning of the sequence, the growing realisation of the likely effects, I hastily pressed a button before my wife and I saw the rest. What I did see was bad enough. Having in the past had violent death occur in front of my eyes, I had no wish to risk the distressing flashbacks that such experiences can give rise to for years afterwards. I went back to the news when I thought it might be safe to do so, only to find John Simpson about to revel in further details with one of the witnesses.

Your once great organisation is now vying with the rest of the media to be at the top of the sensationalism scale regardless of taste and decency.

I have long had, until now, great respect for John Simpson鈥檚 authoritative and dispassionate reporting. Sadly, his reputation will be besmirched forever in my eyes by this unaccountable abandonment of civilised standards.

From time to time, your reporters have told us that some of the images they have captured are too shocking to broadcast. It is difficult to imagine that they could consider anything in future as worse than this.

I fear that, as with the shots of aircraft flying into the Twin Towers, you will lose no opportunity, and need no excuse, to re-show these pictures without warning. I cannot be alone in viewing this prospect with utter dismay.

There has been mass outrage voiced at the insensitivity of a French author publishing a photo of Diana as she received treatment at the scene of her car-crash. A man being executed in an act of complete barbarity is shown on 大象传媒 tv and the editor attempts to justify this. It beggars belief.

"Many of our competitors don't have any permanent presence there..."

I am sorry, but this remark is confusing. Is there more Publicly funded broadcasters in the UK that i do not know about? I was under the impression that the 大象传媒 does not have any competition.

Maybe if the 大象传媒 spent less time trying to compete with commercial organisations (who are only in the business to sell advertising space after all) they would actually be able to start running a broadcast company that actually cared about its viewers/paymasters interests and not disregard them in favour of the pursuit of higher ratings.

This was Shia justice not Iraqi justice.

I appreciate that the 大象传媒 had a difficult decision to make with regard to this footage but feel this time got it wrong. As a comparison, last year there was the pictures of Jean Charles De Mendes on the tube train - although these were upsetting, there was a genuine requirement for these to be available due to the contradiction of the previous reports; I therefore wholeheartedly supported the use of these distressing photos. On this occassion the footage shown did not add to the story and went too far.

Interesting that the 大象传媒 claims to take the possibility of children watching into account when deciding what to show. I complained a few months back about a trailer shown before the Sunday morning Match of the Day, which exploited what the 大象传媒 considered to be the comic potentialities of prostitution and drug abuse. Of course, the response I received was arrogant and dismissive - par for the course for the 大象传媒.

Nothing more from Mr Van-Klaveren I note - sacked, resigned, or lying low till people forget ?

To me, the photos of the Saddam hanging represents everything that is wrong with the 24 hour news media; remember those prostitute murders in Ipswich? Remember how the media poured over every minute detail hiring CSI-like analysts, psyschatrits and other people trying to outdo each other for the best coverage, trying to make it some kind of master stroke event that everyone will remember?

Remember how every single news channel suddenly forgot about this murder and they moved on to the next big thing, and suddenly a new race began? Who'd be the first to put pictures of Saddam's hanging on live tv - and all for ratings?! Right, the 24 hour news media was in a frenzy - "we must be allowed to compete in this 24-hour news media!" we hear - well I'm sick of it, and I've turned off all 24 hour news channels - you can keep your 24 hour news channels and your need to be FIRST with the breaking news -- I guess the only thing we don't have to worry about is whether the 大象传媒, ITV or Sky would have had an auction to present the hanging live on TV on Pay-per-view all in the name of "competition".

And then, by the middle of next month the news media will have forgotton about it all, just like it forgets every "major" story it likes to cover and move on to the next agenda on their clipboards.

Well you can keep your 24 hour news and your so-called competition to be first with breaking news! I'm done with 24 hour news!

I was a tad concerned at the readiness to show 'phone camera' footage on the 大象传媒. Maybe I am being naive, but isn't there a danger that the veracity of the footage cannot be established ?

I also thought the balance on News 24 was loaded so far in favour of the Iraq story [very important, I grant you], that very little coverage was received of the sinking of the Indonesian ship.

That said the number of casualties in Iraq did rise throughout the day, and survivors were being found from the ship. All the same, it would be good to ensure that there isn't blanket coverage of one single story.

While I think the 大象传媒 done the right thing by showing this I have to wonder why you thought this was OK but ran scared from showing those Danish cartoons. More PC self censorship from the 大象传媒?

Having seen the full video that was taken on someone's mobile phone I think it's a shame your not going to show the thing in full. Maybe that loud bang as the doors under his feet open would make people sit up and take notice of what's being done in their name by a puppet Iraqi government.

I cannot believe the 大象传媒 showing the images of Saddam moments before his death first thing on Saturday morning, as a country that doesnt agree with capital punsihment it seem extremely unnecessary showing this. I'm sure we can all imagine the shocking reality of a hanging so do we really need to see it?!

And then to watch the evening news showing footage from someone's mobile phone?! Again is that really the kind of media we want to see?

And don't get me started on you showing the whole footage on 大象传媒 News 24! I think its digusting as no death is a good one and to publicised to the world no matter who they are or what they have done.

what has happened to the western world? has it totally lost it's stomach for accountability,and punishment. what does the future hold if we cannot hang a despot, dictator and murderer without international hand wringing and waves of conscience. god help us if another Hitler appears. As to showing pictures on television, life is cruel, murders still pay and many of us as children remember them throwing hundreds of bodies into mass graves at Belsen before Flash Gordon on a Saturday afternoon. Sadams hanging sends out a message to all dictators, meglomaniacs and fanatics, or should we just run away.

THE 大象传媒 SHOULD STOP CENSORING ITSELF. AN HOUR AFTER THE IRAQIS HUNG THE CRIMINAL DICTATOR, GRAPHIC UNEDITED VIDEOS OF THE HANGING WERE POSTED ALL OVER THE INTERNET.

WE LAUGH AT EWE FOLKS.

Saddam Hussein has been a controversial figure in his life and he remains so when he is no more. He is also among the most well-known persons around the world. By his acts and deeds, whether good or bad and because of the circumstances, he was forced to occupy the center stage on world political scene for more than a decade. His transformation from a dictator to an ardent nationalist and a holy servant of Islam, carrying the Koran right up to the gallows, has made him a person who would not be easily forgotten.
To cover the last few moments of this man was an arduous task and a delicate one as well. I am vouch for it that 大象传媒 has been able to do it in almost an unbiased fashion and has tried to accommodate as many cross-section of views as possible, instead of making it a Euro-centric or western oriented news story, which sadly many of the American and British newspapers did.

What has happened to news reporting and journalism??

"But the unofficial video images - posted on the internet and shown on Arab and Western channels - ..."

Why was it not handed over to the media? why was this footage not sold?
which site did it come out on first?
How can the world suddenly find out about it BY CHANCE?

is this how bad reporting is (I do not mean the 大象传媒 in particular)? we need individual people with mobile phones to show us the truth?

Let's see -- a rather vocal group seem to be saying here is that it is entirely acceptable for the 大象传媒 not to show the footage leading up to Saddam's hanging, while every other media outlet in the world does. What makes people think that the 大象传媒 cannot inform its viewers using carefully chosen pictures? I would guess the programme attracted quite a large audience that day and if that was the case it was in no small measure to the powerful images, pictures which will be seen as one of the defining sets of images of the century.

The danger of taking too much notice of people who respond here is the belief that these viewpoints are representative of the 大象传媒's viewers. They most certainly are not. They comprise a viewpoint but in most cases a strong minority viewpoint. Forum responses need to be taken with a huge pinch of salt because they never reflect the representative view of the those who watch or listen to what the 大象传媒 puts out.

I was pretty horrified to see the footage on the 大象传媒 but more so the treatment of it. The footage prepared by the Iraqi government and witnesses interviewed by the 大象传媒 were treated by the 大象传媒 as fact, and then the mobile phone footage surfaced and it became clear there was a massive difference between the line being swallowed by the media and the reality of the situation. The 大象传媒 failed to address the fact that what they were originally showing was likely propaganda, it was not treated with cynicism. You'd have thought with all the other rubbish spouted about Iraq the 大象传媒 would by now have learned not to believe the official line and to be more questioning particularly as you're a tv station who know how easily things can be edited to create a misleading impression. It then continued with Saddams "sparsely" attended funeral, so sparsely attended that the t.v footage showed more people than could fit into the building despite the fact the man's family couldn't be present, there were massive security threats and it was happening on the Muslim version of Christmas Day. For an evil dictator who had just been executed for the crimes against his own people it was pretty well attended compared to most who get that fate or was the yardstick it was being judged by, that of a state funeral? The other interesting thing is how long it took the 大象传媒 to report the mobile phone footage whilst running an incorrect story. Don't you have any researchers checking websites like Digg and Flurl?

People should go to a site like YouTube and watch the whole mobile phone video. The version being shown by the 大象传媒 is edited and a guy talks over everything, telling you what to think. The whole video shows that the 'abuse' was a few seconds, perhaps two comments, before someone shouts at the big mouth to shut up. The 大象传媒 version cuts out everything but the 10 seconds of innapropriate taunting and thereby implies that this was going on throughout the execution - it was not. Always question why people edit videos. Given the potential for violence in this region, I think the 大象传媒 is seriously out of order in editing this video to make it look worse.

what i'd like to know is how can they be sure that it was Saddam?

He had several doubles and Saddam had pearly white teeth and yet now it seems he has grey rotton teeth, i mean i'm sure the Americans might of roughed him up a bit but i can't see how his teeth can have gone rotton in such a short space of time.

If you put yourself in to Saddam shoes it would of been logical to leave the country as soon as the invasion happened and put a double is his place wouldn't it?

To build on Carl's comment above, those against the death penalty (under any circumstance) should debate this with the relatives of Saddam's victims.

Interesting how so many people act as though the Iraqi government doesn't exist at all, as though the Americans put the noose around Saddam's neck.

It doesn't seem like a stretch to see that Saddam's behavior against the Kurds and his own citizens led to his demise.

Let us remember one thing regarding the official footage of the execution: Iraqis have no faith in the US-led Iraqi government and would not believe saddam's execution unless they see it with their own eyes. These people have lived through decades of lies...they trust no one and who can blame them!

I was appalled by the bogus "trial" and the hanging. Many of us are convinced Saddam Hussein was a butcher, but very few of us believe the stories about the mythical Weapons of Mass Destruction. Nobody stops to reflect that both stories come from the same unreliable sources.

I don't know who they hung, or why they hung him - the "Butcher of Baghdad" or just an obstreporous former lackey head of a client state.

"Butcher of Baghdad" - sheesh!

Oh, and as far as showing the video, I don't have a strong opinion. 大象传媒 did reasonably well.

Eric

I am surprised at the obvious liberal outcry over showing Saddam's hanging. The liberal press can鈥檛 get enough Iraq car bombing coverage with blood and gore. Every day we get all the 'stats' about how many died, what religion they were, how they died, and who killed them. Saddam wrote his own destiny. He refused to shut his mouth by flaunting his 'prowess' and invading Kuwait. He sucked billions from his country's resources for personal use. Now 大象传媒 shows some story about his daughter in Jordan in her Gucci glasses protesting her ruthless father's death. I'm sure 9/11 was just US propaganda also... This is the news! Report it! Thoroughly!
Let us expose the REAL world out there. If we all knew ALL that was happening, not just where the news crews go, many more of us would not be as liberal.

It is an agreement somewhere that we as a country should never submit a person to torture.Islamic law is no different, they exercised an "eye for an eye". Saddam was tortured for what he did to those people as an act of war. We are not at war , Tony Blair and George Bush are and we are paying the price of delivering that man to torTure.It was a certainty that saddam would die so why did they not bomb him like all the rest GOD AND GEORGE BUSH only know. How many have died since he was captured and WE SAW IT ON THE NEWS.Dont have a go at the 大象传媒 for reporting, have a go at the people responsible for the act.

Shall we look at the possible deaths in Iraq at the hands of Saddam Hussain in comparison to the number of deaths at the hands of the coalition? This would be an interesting comparison. At what point does the acceptance of collateral damage in the pursuit of a greater good become unacceptable and who is accountable for these deaths? It is clear that with a dictatorship the penalty for this type of behaviour is death. Can we make ourselves as accountable? Are we saying that it is ok for us to sanctify the deaths of innocent civilians but must punish others who may make such decisions? Is it not as brutal to be burned alive at the hands of American or British forces? I would hope that the senior ranks of the military who are accepting and causing the deaths of possibly thousands of innocent civilians are held as accountable under Iraqi Law.

I cannot help but feel that the death of Saddam Hussain was the result of a witch-hunt to satisfy the sick needs for revenge. This was apparent in the taunts experienced by Saddam in his final moments.

I was just wondering why all I seem to hear about Saddams death is people complaining. First they complain about capturinging him, then about his trial, then about his death. Why, for once, can't people be glad that he's gone? How come once he was captured eveyone seemed to feel sorry for him? So what he got taunted just before the doors opened, I bet he wasn't all Mr Nice guy to all his victims was he? Some people must have short memories. I'm all for the death penalty, don't dish out what you can't take back I say. Saddam got his comupance. I say well done to the forces in Iraq and well played to the 大象传媒, you're doing a marvellous job, keep up the good work and hopefully some of these people will grow up and maybe find something not to moan about!

What is the desired outcome of the 大象传媒 in showing the graphic images of the death penalty being invoked? These images are accessible to both children's and adults alike. As a country we oppose the death penalty. We consider ourselves to be a tolerant and fair nation. Why is the 大象传媒 not calling to account the UK/US governments as to why there were no impartial international observers present, to avoid a predictably vengeful killing. Instead we are complicit in a shameful act which equates with a lack of humanitarism shown by the dictators we seek to flush out. I am disappointed that the 大象传媒 news website hasn't given us much choice about the images, which are best sensationalist and the questions around them not very probing

There seem to be several instances of people here referring to 9/11, as though this has anything to do with Saddam Hussein...

Saddam did many despicable things, but he had no involvement with 9/11, so let us stop 'guilt by association'. Just because the yanks would like us to believe it, doesn't make it true.

Less about the decision on the showing of the execution, than about the decision to wheel out the Halabja coverage yet again, when it has long been clear that the Kurds killed that day were as likely to have been killed by the chemical and biological weapons of the Iranians than by Saddam's regime. What was the point in showing this again and perpetuating a myth even after Saddam was executed?

At 6.10 this evening without any warning images of a person's death were projected into my house, by, of all 'people' the 大象传媒! The crucial points here are the time of day and the lack of a warning. This is totally unacceptable. Is there no censorship applied to News?
I do not agree with the concept that 'the people have a right to know', which I believe journalists use to justify using shock and horror rather than good writing to catch our attention. I went along with the earlier filming on the 10pm news, although I felt it was unnessary and inappropriate. This further coverage went too far!

In general, I support the showing of the video. Personally, I didn't see it on television but over the internet at a time I chose. And I chose to watch it because the Blair government has involved us all in this and I think we need to see the full results of the invasion of Iraq.

If the 大象传媒 News dept does not show us the news then what is its job? Personally, I want to know as much as possible what is going on in the world.

I do appreciate, though, that it is not always appropriate shown at odd times when the tv happens to be "on" so in future I think the 9pm deadline should be applied to 24hr news channels. I wasn't aware that it wasn't.

For those who always want to be sheltered from anything unpleasant - don't switch on the news at all. Don't read Dickens. Don't buy newspapers. The world has always been an unpleasant place - full of poverty, corruption, hunger, thirst, volcanoes, floods, storms and wars, to name just a few.

Keep up the good work, Auntie. You don't get it wrong very often and you can't please us all.

Pretty sick!
We look down on previous generations with their public gallows. What is the difference?
There remains the fundamental problem that the news machine has to be fed.

When Nicolae Ceau艧escu and his wife were executed, the world witnessed the act without any outrage or even comments.
Why is it that when pictures of Sadam Hussein being executed are shown or circulating, the whole issue becomes a controversial international issue?

Is political correctness a new fad? Or is it that the media are starving from lack of real front page news?

Days after the fact 大象传媒 News 24 is still showing Saddam with the noose round his neck, only now it is to illustrate the arrest of the man who allegedly took these pictures.
This seems to reveal an absence of moral judgement from the editorial team.

In *none* of the 大象传媒's reporting of Saddam's execution, was there any mention (beyond "Western support") of the USA and UK's involvement with Saddam. He was helped into power by the CIA, he was given credit, and arms by the USA, the UK, Germany - and none of this was mentioned in any of the 大象传媒@s reports. If a country *other* than the USA had invaded another country, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, and then the government that it helped set up executed the former leader - how would the 大象传媒 have reported that?

Kevin.

So the 大象传媒 does censor the news then!

Stopping the film at the point of execution could be seen as the 大象传媒 trying to start a so called "conspiracy theory", could it not?

We never saw him die, so it's a scam. He's living on an Island somewhere with Lady Di and Elvis.

As for 'don't want to frighten the children'. No, just let them grow up thinking the world is all lollipops and roses eh?

As for the people who say Saddam was bad and deserved what he got. By your reasoning if anybody works for the Americans, they deserve to hang.

Best get the rope out for Mr Blair and Co then (please).

Bernard.

First I consider of the decision of the news editorial team to show images of Saddam's execution to be totally reprehensible. It was a major mistake and judging by the comments I read above only welcomed by the morally bankrupt. To compound this original error the 大象传媒 now seem to believe that multiple viewings have inured the lumpen masses to the point where a report on the arrest of the guard alleged to have taken phone images, needs to accompanied with the very images that have caused his arrest. Wake up! if he was wrong to take them you are wrong to show them. Is that simple enough for you to understand?

I watched your footage with disbelief. Not that Saddam had been hanged but that you were showing it. The glee evidenced by your newsreaders was, admittedly probably more because you had the footage than at Saddam's death. I switched off and than started watching again five hours later, hoping that you had moved on. No luck.
We knew that he was to be hanged. Your only reason for showing that film was sensationalist crowing. Well done! You're right down there in the gutter with 'The Sun', now.

I cant imagine there was much debate in the 大象传媒 about the decision to broadcast the footage. It was a no brainer. The only decision was about when and how much and the 大象传媒 got this right. I am shocked that anyone would be shocked by the decision. It is the news!
To those who are disgusted, or will no longer be paying their TV licence, every other major news broadacster in the world and almost without exception , every national newspaper showed it! Either they are all wrong or you are. The pictures will still be seen in 20 or 50 years time.
There isnt Capital Punishment in the UK,but this is entirely irrelevant to the question of the television coverage. The 大象传媒 didnt execute him!

The official complaints don't dignify a response. I concur with a previous poster that the comments posted here should not be thought representative, just as if there were a discussion about 9/11 conspiracies, every wierdo would come out of the woodwork. Naive or thick?

Evidence from a senior Iraqi court official provides compelling evidence that Americans took all mobiles except two used openly by "high-ranking government officials". This confirms that the mobile phone video was not recorded secretly, but was done openly and with government approval, and that the Americans controlled who was allowed in with any mobile phone. This reinforces the belief that both the making, and the leaking of the video, was deliberate black propaganda to further inflame the civil war.

How much more hypocritical and irresponsible can the 大象传媒 news team become.I have read the explanation of a decision to show the execution of Sadam Hussein which has been repeated.Are you comfortable that young children will have watched this?Are warnings of this violence restricted to drama?You are inflaming an already explosive situation.Is the news regardless of the time exempt from any restrictions? You have more than appalled and disgusted me.

There is a big difference in reporting the news of Saddam's execution and the manner in which it was carried out and the showing of gruesome pictures.

We do not have any say in what is put on our screens. Yes we can turn off, but it is too late by the time the pictures are shown.

Not only were they shown - but repeatedly!! Sickening!!

Why??

Bring back censorship!!!!!

This is a ridiculous topic to be discussing! Whatever your opinion on capital punishment, is totally irrelevant. The execution happened and we are entitled to know and witness all of the available facts without having the 'bad bits' removed. I would not want my children growing up in a world where they can see terrible situations in movies, yet fail to link them to the real world. This is the world in which we live, it's harsh and it's real. Everyone complaining about the 大象传媒 broadcasting choice really does subscribe to the 'ignorance is bliss' way of life.

Interesting, Auntie, the preceeding comments skirt the issue of death as news. Should we see death on tv ? No of course not, but to imply that Mr Hussains death is any different to a mob death in the states or a civilian 'casualty of war' is stupid. No death should be permissable because he was a bad man, are we any better for killing him??
Someone above said that we should show killing of Saddam and civilians and soldiers etc, and whilst that may be too much I agree that the british media tends to sensetionalise certain events at the expense of the wider picture, perhaps some more depth and a little reality check is requred, eh Auntie?

Yours(Hopefully)

Sam

I think the 大象传媒 and its editors should be aware that not everyone 'actively' chooses to watch News 24. It is now shown in motorway services without sound - which means that no warnings about the nature of subsequent material can be heard. We and our two children (aged 3 and 7)saw the piece about the execution up to the noose being placed about Saddam Hussein's neck when we stopped for lunch at a motorway services as it was unavoidable on the TV Screen next to the food hall. We are now dealing with the fallout of this image with our children. However I should also point out that other families had camped out in front of the screen with their children and objected when I asked a manager to turn the screen off; these families wanted to cheer and applaud the execution. Well done 大象传媒, may be we could have a world cup of executions in the future.

I appreciate that the following may repeat comments of others, but I can only hope that weight of opinion may sway editorial policy.

Whatever one may think of the execution of Saddam, it cannot be right to show video of any of the event, especially at times when children may be watching. The only purpose served is to provide 'entertainment' to those who would wish to watch so called 'snuff' movies. Simple reporting of the fact of the execution is all that is needed, without gratuitous details. I have to admit that I was surprised by the reporting by John Simpson, a reporter for whom I have previously held considerable respect, who seemed to take great pleasure in giving a moment by moment commentary on what, even for those who may agree with the practice, is surely a ghastly business.

Please 大象传媒 let us have higher standards.

What a strange society we in the 'civilised west' live in. Television and cinema are keen to fictionalise death in the most brutal manner possible in order to attract audiences. Yet when it comes to seeing the bodies of dead Iraqis our screens are cencorsed in the extreme.

Why is this? Why DO the media bombard us with gruesome fictionalised television and cinema but "protect us" from the evils carried out by our Governments?

Is it because the real horrors of seeing death on our news screens would instantly make the waging of wars like this so much harder?

I think so.

Oh come on everyone. It was bound to happen! The 大象传媒 TV,like all the other channels, are very fond of reality TV and have to pander to the baying masses and churn out this kind of cheap rubbish. It wouldn't suprise me if someone came up wtih Jimmy Carr's top 100 executions. What's the problem, it happens and lets face it, people love it.
Listen to the radio for goodness sake then you don't have to put up with Deal or No Deal, Eastenders, Big Brother or various executions.
Switch it off and get a life.

I consider it totally unnecessary that you are showing these images. I have just seen them on the 10:30 news.

This is the not the first time I have felt this way about 大象传媒1 news - unexpected and disturbing images - no warning before they are run.

I will do my best to avoid watching anything other than Newsround in future if this is what I can expect.

His execution was better than let him alive. I do not like solving problems by killing, but I agree with this. Now we are assure he will not kill anyone else.

To all those who try to excuse the showing of Saddam's execution by saying that all the other broadcasters in the world were showing it and therefore this justifies the 大象传媒 showing it I would likt to say this. We are not reponsible for the actions of other nations broadcasting services but we do pay our licence here and are therefore responsible for OUR actions. Other people making wrong actionsis not in any way justification for us to do wrong too.
it was wrong to show the execution of Saddam anywhere and aslo worng of the 大象传媒 to do it.

Please ENOUGH ENOUGH ENOUGH about Saddam Hussein's execution and what everybody thinks about it - we have had it as headlines for over a week now. Let Iraq deal with it - he was handed over to them to do the deed. What does it matter now what everybody else thinks, it's too late.

By the way, I don't have a television and don't pay a licence fee - I am just sick of hearing about it on the radio every time there is a news bulletin.

I find it appauling that days after Saddam Hassein's execution we are still being subjected to constant re-runs of the whole event 'just so the 大象传媒 can tell the story' !

Why I ask, do we need to veiw the events time and time again? Surely the journalists are gifted with the art of writing to cover news events with out going into the whole morbid TV film coverage.

Do you think the crux of this matter is the why we need to go into such graphic detail about events such as these.

Some people think the execution of Sadaam Hussein will turn him into a martyr. Doubt it. The only person I can think of whose influence lasted after he was executed was Jesus Christ. The indignity of his last few minutes has been widely reported and deplored, not least from John Prescott, although seeing him in a fistfight with a member of the electorate during the General Election campaign doesnt add a lot of weight to his view. No, the indignity of Sadaam Husseim lay not in death but in life. He ended his Presidency of Iraq cowering in a hole and its only ironic he should end his life by falling through another.

News 24 provides many irritations. Newscasters who put an 'a' after everya worda, continual use of 'of course' when it doesn't follow logically, incomplete reporting of the FA Cup draw. But these all fall into insignificance compared with the coverage of Sadam's execution. Over the last 11 days it has been shown at every possible opportunity, with any excuse. Some things, if they must be done at all, should be done in private. This is definitley in this category. the public should not be subjected to this. Please don't show it again so that I won't have to be continually alert to change channel.

First of all , i am against execution of saddam hussein, mr bush as done the work as his name is i.e (Blow up saddam hussein)

now he can take liberty regarding the oil matters, which is only the one which he does not have in his many list. being from india, i expect he do interefere in our underworld contacts like pulling down dawood ibrahmin and main global terrorists

i hope he does.

Rajesh: do you continually worry about executions (by various methods) in the arab and muslim world? Do you look at Amnesty International's reporting of executions in Iran (where children are executed---you can also be stoned to death there)? By the way Japan executed four people on Christmas day. Did this worry you at all?

Totally unnecessary to show any footage of any execution. To say he was executed was enough....no graphics.

Given the care taken not to show the noose around Sadam Hussains neck, its a shame the same attention to detail wasn't used this morning 15/01, when describing at 0810 on Breakfast that a former aide's head became detached during his execution.

I was disappointed that the 大象传媒 News did not show the whole execution. But then, we do live in a country full of PC do-gooders who support the release of paedophiles back into the community!

Showing the execution would have sent a message to all tyrants - big and small. At least it was available on the web.

The real world is full of nasty people who need to be hunted down and dealt with properly. In some cases this means execution - there is no other option. (Perhaps we should start with the former American Governor who presided over more executions in his state than any other Governor in the last 30 years - one G.W. Bush?)

Otherwise we are all doomed to live in a dangerous world where psychopaths are free to do as they please while we merely look on!

I justwould of like to witness his hangin in person just to make sure but we can never be truly sure