Video images of Iraqi soldiers interrogating wounded American POWs are certainly sensitive to some, but students and faculty in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications disagree about whether that footage is newsworthy enough to be shown on national television.

On Sunday, the Qatar-based TV news network Al-Jazeera aired Iraqi television footage showing gruesome images of dead and wounded U.S. soldiers. The tape also showed interviews with five U.S. captives, some of whom appeared to have freshly bandaged bullet wounds. The tape did not air on any U.S. news networks because of what broadcast journalism professor Michael Cremedas described as numerous ethical concerns.

Cremedas said that CNN and Fox News Channel are “still evaluating” whether to run the footage, and added that the only thing that should prevent the networks from airing the tape is concerns about the notification of the dead soldiers’ families.

“It’s a legitimate reason if you’re trying to protect the families, but beyond that, I question the reasons for withholding it,” Cremedas said. “It’s part of what war is all about.”

Cremedas said that by playing the video, Al-Jazeera may have been pandering to its target audience in Arab countries and attempting to act as a counterweight to U.S. network war coverage.

“Al-Jazeera allegedly leans toward the Arab view,” Cremedas said. “It may have been an effort to sort of balance one-sided news coverage.”

Cremedas said this case differs from the case of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter whose execution in Pakistan was captured on video. He said that although the Pearl video was no less graphic, networks were correct in not airing it because Pearl was neither a combat soldier nor a prisoner of war.

“[The Pearl incident] was a criminal act. This is war we’re talking about now,” Cremedas said. “It’s not the media’s place to worry about upsetting people.”

Joe Piraneo, a senior broadcast journalism major, agreed with the networks’ decision. In his opinion, the public is not prepared to see images of that kind of brutality, especially given advances in television technology that allow high-resolution pictures to be transmitted from the battlefield. He said, however, that if the networks do ultimately decide to run the video, it may help to boost support for the war.

“Overall, [the video] is helping the American cause,” Piraneo said. “The initial reaction may be ‘get these guys out of there,’ but I think in the long run, it will help the war effort.”

Evan Hirsch, an junior broadcast journalism major and weekend producer at WIXT Channel 9 in Syracuse, was less compromising. He said that neither the full video nor still photos are newsworthy enough to be shown on television.

“It’s very emotionally upsetting, and it doesn’t do that much to advance the story itself,” Hirsch said. “I think it would be seen as more shock value and sensationalism than actual news.”

Published on March 23, 2003 at 12:00 pm