- Peter Horrocks
- 25 Apr 07, 05:07 PM
Several of you have posted responses to my initial blog stating that you believe the broadcast images gave the gunman the celebrity status he'd sought, and - more specifically - that showing them might trigger copycat killings.
It is important to remember the primary issue that Cho carried out an appalling act. Would the showing of his video encourage others with a similarly insane mind to copy him? Are people suggesting that the likelihood of a "suicide note" video getting shown by media outlets might motivate someone deeply disturbed to carry out violent and criminal acts?
I would not have thought that someone that deranged [and one gets a better understanding of how deranged he really was, having seen the video] would have carefully considered in a rational way what sort of extra effect the publication of the video might have on those associated with his victims or the public. The crime was the killing; the crime was not the video.
Of course this is a judgment, a delicate balancing act and not conclusive, and in our decision-making we had to weigh up those risks. We were careful to avoid speculation, and did not broadcast any coverage that could be interpreted as glorifying Cho's act. For instance, the Ten O'Clock News on 大象传媒 One looked at issues about depression, and the relationship between movie images and the images that he shot as a means of increasing the broader audience understanding.
So, the overall judgment made was that it was the carrying out of the killings - as opposed to the broadcasting of the video - that was central here.
Peter Horrocks is head of 大象传媒 Newsroom
- Jonathan Baker
- 25 Apr 07, 01:32 PM
A big part of our efforts to maintain the pressure for the release of Alan Johnston, the 大象传媒 correspondent who disappeared in Gaza six weeks ago, has been to keep the issue in the public eye. We've had massive support in this regard from the international media community - and especially from the Palestinian journalists in Gaza itself and in the West Bank, who have mounted almost daily demonstrations to call for Alan's freedom.
Today the - this time to Erez, the main crossing point between Gaza and Israel. On the other side of the crossing were assembled the massed ranks of the international media - rallied by the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem for their own major demonstration in support of Alan.
For most of them, Erez is now the furthest they feel they can safely venture since the abduction - a reminder of the unique and courageous nature of Alan Johnston's work: the only foreign correspondent permanently based in Gaza, determined to bring the story of life there to there to the outside world.
It was a strange occasion in some ways - with one group of journalists filming another group of journalists demonstrating their support for Alan and also publicly reaffirming the importance of the Gaza story and their ability to report it. All the talk was of the rumours and speculation that have swirled around Gaza and elsewhere since the first day of what is now a 45-day ordeal.
It's the sort of talk that fills the vaccuum left by a lack of any hard information, of which there has been next to none. On the Palestinian side of Erez, I told the journalists that I had met members of Alan's family in the UK, and they were very aware of, and deeply grateful for, the huge efforts that they had made on Alan's behalf.
The response was immediate. "You tell them," they said, "that we regard Alan as a part of our family too. And we won't rest until he's released."
Their support, and that of the international media loudly sending the same message from their demonstration a few hundred yards away on the other side, has heartened and strengthened Alan's friends and family in these last long weeks - proof, if proof were needed, that even journalists have a heart.
NB. If you want to show your support for Alan, you can join the 52,000 people . If you have a blog or run a website, you can add this button (instructions here). Thank you.
Jonathan Baker is deputy head of Newsgathering
The Times: Reports on Mark Thompson鈥檚 comments that the traditional role of the newsreader "has virtually died out鈥. ()
The Independent: Columnist Deborah Orr writes that the Hutton report has left a 鈥渃ulture of caution鈥 at the 大象传媒, citing various issues such as the Balen report and as examples of this. ()
The Scotsman: Reports on comments made by the Palestinian deputy prime minister that the 大象传媒 Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston, who was abducted on 12 March, is 鈥渋n good health鈥. ()
