Good to see news that footage of Steve Irwin’s death are to be destroyed to avoid any risk of them appearing on YouTube. Although arguably the Saddam Hussein recording highlighted the barbaric nature of his execution, there are some things that shouldn’t be seen as part of social media.
Heather Yaxley – Greenbanana views of public relations and more
Connecting ideas, thoughts and comment because if you’re green, you’re growing
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Have you decided that I should not see the footage for my own good, for Steve’s or for someone else’s?
Personally, I don’t think images of someone dying should be circulated for human entertainment – especially without their prior consent. For me it is a matter of humanity and respect rather than censorship. If Steve Irwin’s wife felt there was an important message or other reason for releasing the images, that would be up to her. I’m not convinced she’d choose to release via YouTube though.
I appreciate that a lot of images on the news are brutal, and do show people dying. Who could forget the footage of people falling from the Twin Towers. In that case the images underlined the horror of the situation but there is a danger people become desensitised to the reality of death (such as with daily images from Iraq).
When done well, there is enormous power in showing someone dying. The Channel 4 documentary about Jonny Kennedy who had Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) was made even more moving as he knew he would be dead by the time it was shown and it included his last days.