Cho pics spark debate, backlash on TV, web, print

By Andy Goldberg Apr 20, 2007, 10:54 GMT

Los Angeles - US newspapers and TV networks apologized Thursday to viewers and readers after their prominent use of photos and videos made by Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui sparked a backlash.

The perpetrator of the deadliest shooting in US history had mailed his self-made videos to NBC News during the two hours Monday between his first and second killing sprees.

After copying the material and handing the originals to the FBI, the network proceeded to broadcast the videos and release the stills, which were immediately picked up by other news outlets.

It was certainly powerful television. It was powerful reading, too, as most US newspapers splashed pictures of the gun-wielding killer on their front pages. But thousands of Americans, including the families of the 32 slain victims, thought that giving the killer such a prominent stage was a tasteless method to drive up ratings and circulation.

Relatives of the victims cancelled plans to appear on NBC to protest the widespread use of the disturbing videos, while newspapers and TV stations were inundated with protests, reported the media news site Editor & Publisher.

On Thursday, NBC justified its decision but said that it would limit the video footage to 10 per cent of its airtime.

'The decision to run this video was reached by virtually every news organization in the world, as evidenced by coverage on television, on Web sites and in newspapers,' NBC said in a statement. 'We have covered this story - and our unique role in it - with extreme sensitivity, underscored by our devoted efforts to remember and honour the victims and heroes of this tragic incident.'

ABC Television also said it would put limits on the footage.

'It has value as breaking news,' said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider, 'but then becomes practically pornographic as it is just repeated ad nauseam.'

Fox News said it would completely stop using the videos.

However, most media experts believed that showing the images was defensible as long as it aimed at understanding the crime rather than exploiting it.

Bob Steel of the Poynter School of Journalism said that NBC's decision was 'journalistically and ethically appropriate.' It adds another 'piece to the puzzle about the why of what happened,' he said.

The point was honed by Jill Gleiser, who teaches news management courses at the elite journalism school.

'The video is a useful window into the mind of a person who ultimately takes so many lives and gives us an opportunity to understand the texture of the story,' she said.

But she warned that any use outside this context would be considered exploitative.

'We have to look at how we are using it. Are we using it in promotions? Are we using it in teasers? How many times are we putting it on the air?' Gleiser asked.

'Editors must explain why they're using the videos. They have to be straightforward about what they have and what it means.'

That advice applied to newspapers too. Many plastered pictures of Cho on front pages and were inundated with complaints that it could promote copycat attacks.

Doug Clifton, editor of the widely respected Plain Dealer in Cleveland, made a decision to run with four pictures, including a close up in which Cho points his gun directly at the camera - an image that many of the victims must have faced in their final moments.

'It's a terrible dilemma that you're in, because I think there is a genuine and important need to show the photos - and I think there is an important and genuine concern that it, A, glorifies the killer and, B, is needlessly provocative,' he told Editor & Publisher.

Clifton said that, in hindsight, the newspaper should have made a different decision.

'In retrospect, if I had to do it all over again, we probably would have gone with fewer pictures,' he said. 'I probably would not have used the photo of him pointing the gun directly at the reader, because that is disturbing.'