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    In Britain, disquiet over grisly Gadhafi coverage

    By RAPHAEL G. SATTER - Associated Press | AP – Fri, Oct 21, 2011

    LONDON (AP) — As journalists from around the world rushed to air proof that Libya's long-serving dictator had died, many in Britain and elsewhere said Friday that they felt media had gone too far in pushing out explicit pictures of his bloody demise.

    U.K. communications watchdog Ofcom said it had received complaints about numerous broadcasters that aired the images of a dazed or dead-looking Gadhafi being manhandled by his captors, while media commentators weighed the pros and cons of the unusually graphic images on Britain's Friday morning front pages.

    "I would put the bar very high before I would use images like that," said Al Tompkins, a senior faculty member at the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based school for professional journalists. "Just to use the images is because you can is not a good enough answer."

    Even by the standards of Britain's shock-hungry tabloids, Friday's front pages were unusually graphic, with the Daily Mirror tabloid showing a particularly stark picture of the half-naked dictator lying in state and caked in dried blood. Other papers carried earlier photographs of a wounded and distressed-looking Gadhafi carried on top of a rebel car.

    Broadcasters also made heavy use of amateur footage of Gadhafi's capture, although many warned their viewers they could expect graphic content.

    The BBC defended its decision to use the images as crucial to dispelling "the swirl of rumor" as conflicting reports emerged about Gadhafi's state. Initial accounts were confused and contradictory and came after months of rumor and misinformation.

    "We do not use such pictures lightly," BBC newsroom head Mary Hockaday wrote in a blog post. "The images of his dead body were an important part of telling the story to confirm reports of his death."

    A news organizations job is "to report what happened, and that can include shocking and disturbing things," Hockaday said.

    ___

    Online:

    Poynter Institute: http://www.poynter.org/

    The BBC's blog: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/

     
    • Kevin
      Kevin  •  Palm Springs, United States  •  7 mths ago
      It still looked better than all those coffins of the Lockerbie victims, I could watch it again, the prick got what was a long time coming.
      • Kraven
        Kraven 7 mths ago
        Right on, Kevin. Once a piece 'a #$%$ like this goes down, the Libs come outa' the woodwork and they forget about all those whose lives he took before, and women and children he raped.Don't worry, Hollywood will make him into a hero for human kind.
    • seen2much
      seen2much  •  Harbin, China  •  7 mths ago
      My tv and radio have an on off position, admittedly they are difficult to use but with practice this technology can be mastered.
      • love1
        love1 7 mths ago
        Isn't modern tech grand?!
      • unforgivable
        unforgivable 7 mths ago
        Hahahahahah.
      • unforgivable
        unforgivable 7 mths ago
        My internet has a rewind option too. It worked really good yesterday. I just wish they showed all his son's dead or injured bodies too.
    • Vital Transformation
      Vital Transformation  •  7 mths ago
      Of course, the US didn't feel any need to dispell the "swirl of rumor" regarding the assertion that Osama bin Laden was killed.
      • unforgivable
        unforgivable 7 mths ago
        The US isn't a bunch of rebels who live in the stone age. If they had released the images, they would have been shown all over the airwaves just like they did yesterday.
      • blackram
        blackram 7 mths ago
        The other muslim decided not to allow it.
    • maxcrusader
      maxcrusader  •  7 mths ago
      This is exactly why the government did not show Osama Bin Laden's dead body. The reaction was kinda predictable.
    • Country Commentator
      Country Commentator  •  7 mths ago
      Lockerbie, now that was grisly.
    • Charlie P
      Charlie P  •  Quezon City, Philippines  •  7 mths ago
      There is no doubt that Moammar Gadhafi was 'MURDERED', but this is the reality of "WAR', and these combatants had eight months of 'BATTLE RAGE' and 42 years of Gadhafi's history of brutality eating away at their hearts. Many innocent individuals lost their lives to Gadhafi's regime, both before and during this revolt. I for one didn't think that these picture were all that gruesome, as I have seen much worse on our highways and I am sure that most of you have too.
      • missy
        missy 7 mths ago
        It wasn't war....he didn't threaten any countries.
        It was a planned regime change,so western countries could share his oil.
      • Charlie P
        Charlie P 7 mths ago
        If it wasn't war, try telling that to the love ones of the thousands who loss their lives. No doubt this boiled down to the haves verse the have not manipulated by no less than the NWO bureaucrats. For those of you who think Gadhafi's regime is going to be replaced with a democracy you are probably smoking that funny stuff, as it will not happen. Most likely we will see a Sharia Law Government emerge with Libya's oil still under control of the region's oil cartel. In other words these people have jumped out of the skillet into the fire. Still repressed!!!
      • Charlie P
        Charlie P 7 mths ago
        Further, it started as an uprising similar to what we seen occur in Egypt, Yemen, Syria and even in Iran (which was brutally put to an end, which if given a chance will probably rise up again), which developed into a civil war where the rebels were aided by Air strikes by the U.S. and NATO flunkies (otherwise the rebels could not have survived)..Again, I think this was manipulated not to gain control of Libya's oil but to form a coalition to help establish a NWO regime down the pike.
    • cosmo98
      cosmo98  •  Pennsauken, United States  •  7 mths ago
      when a guy has his brains on the side of his head and blood coming out of his mouth, and people are stomping the corpse, I hate to break it to the media, but THAT GUY IS DEAD.
    • Adam
      Adam  •  Indianapolis, United States  •  7 mths ago
      war is bloody messy. awful stuff. maybe if we realize what war is. we wouldnt go to war
      • privy
        privy 7 mths ago
        Unfortunately each generation forgets the horrors of war.
      • love1
        love1 7 mths ago
        Because the previous generations sheltered them. Perhaps this barbarism will stick in our minds and we won't shelter our children from reality!
      • HARSH REALITY
        HARSH REALITY 7 mths ago
        no ,,,, wake up ,,, its not just war ,,, it is all around you everywhere
    • k
      k  •  Boone, United States  •  7 mths ago
      Did these same #$%$ cry about muslims beheading people on the TV news?
    • Barry
      Barry  •  Cicero, United States  •  7 mths ago
      He's dead. He doesen't care what happens to his body now.
    • Walter
      Walter  •  7 mths ago
      Can't they make up their minds, either they see it or they claim it was a fraud. So this time they got to see up close and personal and they didn't like it nearly as much as they thought they would.
    • Abe
      Abe  •  7 mths ago
      You haven't seen anything yet. There's plenty more to come once the rebels turn their NATO weapons on each other.
    • Realist 2011
      Realist 2011  •  Pittsburg, United States  •  7 mths ago
      Did they ever see pics of Mussolini after the Italians hung his corpse by the heels in an abandoned gas station? The crowd went wild with revenge and beat his body to a pulp. His head looked like a truck ran over it. I thinks Gadhafi's corpse got off easy.
    • Ohio
      Ohio  •  7 mths ago
      Are they afraid of the reality? Afraid to see the truth of the politicians they support and the decisions they make? This is what your tax dollar support so you might as well look at it and see the ugly truth....after all you paid for it!
    • Cunning Linguist
      Cunning Linguist  •  Pleasanton, United States  •  7 mths ago
      Welcome to the real world.
    • sleeper7now
      sleeper7now  •  Elmhurst, United States  •  7 mths ago
      People Only complain When they have little Else to do. in this Case
      and some People watch Far to Much TV in UK and USA and believe it or NOT
    • Vital Transformation
      Vital Transformation  •  7 mths ago
      Of course, the US didn't feel any need to dispell the "swirl of rumor" regarding the assertion that Osama bin Laden was killed.
    • noneya
      noneya  •  7 mths ago
      Just the other day the goverment and media were complaining about the use of chewing tobacco by baseball players on TV, and said it was bad for our kids. Then they show us this. Love the priorities.
    • jim l
      jim l  •  7 mths ago
      obviously there are no rules when it comes to scumbags like Qaddafi, etal. No news outlet would ever air graphic pics of a dead or dying Western leader...as in a European, a US or Canadian leader.
    • tmine
      tmine  •  7 mths ago
      Likely due to media, many people like to think of themselves as "civilized." What we see repeatedly from the Middle-East is that is not a given.
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