Is Linking to Beheading Video OK on Web, Not TV?

The South African Broadcasting Corporation has been fined for contravening that country’s broadcasting code for airing footage of the beheading of American hostage Eugene Armstrong in Iraq. The SABC showed the 2-minute video of Armstrong being decapitated during a 7:30 p.m. broadcast in September.

While the network did not repeat the broadcast and apologized for it, fellow E-Media Tidbits contributor Matthew Buckland, who is editor of South Africa’s Mail & Guardian Online, takes a different point of view when it comes to showing beheadings in Iraq on the Web.

In an entry on his Mail & Guardian blog, Buckland addresses the question of whether his website might link to a video stream of the latest beheading in Iraq, of British hostage Kenneth Bigley. The answer: Yes, and it “might still do so in the near future.”

Buckland explains that his site would ensure such a link has warnings “for our sensitive viewers.” He also thinks it’s not at all appropriate on TV — and that SABC made a mistake — but can be acceptable on the Web if done because “it is newsworthy and brings home the horror and chaos on the ground in Iraq, contrary to what many politicians are saying,” but not if it’s simply sensational.

Buckland’s principal argument is that the Web is a very different medium. “By actively clicking on the link we provide to the video stream, the user is making more of a conscious choice to view what is behind the link and therefore, we feel is taking a greater responsibility.”