Nightline 9/10: Images of War -- "it's far worse than we ever show"

[Bozita]

 
Nightline Daily E-Mail
September 10, 2004


TONIGHT'S FOCUS: There are pictures from 9-11 that have never been shown. Other pictures of wars, of terrorism, are available on the Internet, but have never been shown on television. How far should we go? What should the viewer see?

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There's a dirty secret that every journalist who has ever covered a war knows: it's far worse than we ever show. The real images of war, what really happens, rarely, if ever, make it back to you, the viewers or the readers. Why? We feel that some images are just too much to take. That no one would watch, that no one could bear to watch. And what to do about terrorism? None of the television networks showed those horrific tapes of hostages being beheaded. But they are available on the Internet, and by all accounts, are quite popular. Why? Why would anyone want to see something like that? Do you have to see the pictures to truly understand how horrific death is?

This has become something of a political issue too. Everything is political these days. At least one self-described conservative radio outlet played the audio of one of the hostages being beheaded. Their explanation was that the public needed to know the truth about the enemy, just how brutal they really are. And there was some sense that the media, i.e. us, was censoring this out of some political bias. There was also the position that something was needed to offset those pictures of prisoner abuse in Iraq, to show that the other side is much worse.

Well, I'm one of those who has wrestled with this issue first-hand. The danger in being too careful, of showing too little, is that war looks clean and easy. Those pictures of smart-bombs going in the window of a building in grainy black-and-white make war look like a poor-quality video game. Clean it up too much and I think it makes war too easy to accept. And it's not. It's the worst thing on earth. But we have stories to tell, and if we include the worst of the images, then we know that no one will stick around to watch. We shoot those images. I know for a fact that more often than I like to remember, my camera crew and I have been the last thing that dying people have seen. I fully expect to be held accountable for that in some way. And many of those images were never shown. One very experienced cameraman was with us in Rwanda. He was filming two little boys who were minutes from death. In the end, he rolled back over the pictures. He couldn't bear, as a human being, to record their final moments. We are, after all, people as well as journalists.

And what do you all want to see? In Iraq today, videos of beheadings and the bodies of American soldiers being dragged through the streets of Somalia, are very popular. Before we get outraged however, we should remember that not too many years ago there was a video series in this country called Faces of Death, which was a compilation of pictures of people dying violent deaths. Sold a whole lot of copies. Do you need to see the worst to truly understand? Has terrorism changed all this; is it important to see the details of the worst of the terrorist acts? Most outlets still don't show the pictures of people jumping from the burning World Trade Towers on 9/11. Do you need to see those to truly experience the horror that those people must have faced in making that horrible choice?

We'll tackle all of this tonight. John Donvan will report and Chris Bury will anchor. And we're still trying to figure out just what we should, and shouldn't show tonight. It's not easy.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
Nightline Offices
ABC News Washington Bureau

[in_cog_ni_to]

1. Hmmmm....

That sounds interesting. I think they HAVE cleaned up the war footage to the point that people don't think the war is as bad as it is. No soldier's coffins are shown, no babies who have been bombed, no dead innocent Iraqi men and women...it's sanitized for the sheeple and I, for one, don't believe it should be. I don't want to see beheadings, but I think they need to show the sheeple what REAL war looks like. Maybe they wouldn't be so anxious to go to war. JMCPO

[acmavm]

2. The outrage over Viet Nam started after the pictures started to come

out. The execution of the Viet Cong dude by the Vietnamese Colonel (or whatever), the little girl running down the road naked and burning up because of napalm, My Lai.

I can still see those images when I close my eyes and just think about Viet Nam.

If the people in this country had to see what bush* * Co. are responsible by way of civilian casualties, I wonder how far their gung ho rah rah crap would go, that is if their Christianity finally kicked in.

[karlrschneider]

3. Yes, you have made a salient point. I protested the VN "war" in the 60s

when it was "unpopular" to do so...in many venues...but we were eventually vindicated. I'm not so hopeful that the same sentiment will prevail in the current clusterfuck, though. :grr:

[Clinton Crusader]

4. Good point

But if I hadnt read this thread I wouldnt even know it was on, will anyone else?
:kick:

[Ladyhawk]

8. Would it be bad for me to send pics to my "Christian" family and friends?

?

[in_cog_ni_to]

11. I saw those pictures too.

They are why the public was OUTRAGED by Nam and THAT is why this administration refuses to show the Iraqi War in all it's disgusting HORROR. From the outset...embedded journalists who had to have their film and stories vetted BY THE PENTAGON???? :grr:

The ONLY reason they have so much support for this war is because people aren't seeing the TRUTH, the death and destruction.

Maybe CBS has had enough of the state owned TV censorship? Maybe we will start seeing some TRUTH. We can hope.

[leesa]

5. It's your JOB to show them. Why is this a question for them??

This is allegedly a democracy. We MUST know what our government is doing in our name.

[Bozita]

6. showtime in a few minutes

[knowbody0]

7. images of terror

it is all part of the spin. they show us chechnya vividly. they taunt us with beheadings up to the point of slicing. psyop. we are encouraged to HATE the extremists.the terrified naked child running from the napom roused the world. our government understands the power of image. are these chechnian children any different than the children in iraq? absolutely not. same as the protests, media never covers with accuracy. back in the day it became apparent the revolution would not be televised. thank god for the internet. if amerika saw nightly the results of our attacks, there would be rage, of this i am sure.

[Jade Fox]

9. In other words if we really saw what happens in war.....

we would do everything we could to stop it.

Gee, wouldn't that be just terrible.

[gratuitous]

10. In keeping with my handle

I think that gratuitous shots of death and violence don't need to be shown. The "Faces of Death" video alluded to by Mr. Sievers is a cop-out (is that term still used?). Yes, some people are fascinated by watching the death of others. Our society has all but hidden death away entirely. We don't know how to react to death, we seem shocked or surprised by it, and I'd venture to say that the number of dead bodies a person sees in a lifetime can be counted on one hand.

Part of that is giving the corpse its privacy, and I don't suppose I have much of a problem with that. But the dead and the dying are often shunted away from the living. It seems a very lonely thing to do anymore.

But the death and destruction in war is not incidental. It's not the logical or natural conclusion to someone's life. We did that to the person. Our military, using weapons paid for with our tax dollars, kills. Bodies get ripped apart. Sometimes people scream and bleed and linger before their life slips away from them.

Well, here's the thing: I paid for it. I want to see it. I want to see the bodies coming through Dover. Not neat caskets draped with flags. The bodies. I sent them over there, like or not. I deserve to see what I've done. I also want to see the wounded and maimed guys rendered hors d' combat. I want to look in their eyes, if they still have them. I want to see the stumps of their missing limbs.

And more. I want to see the houses, before and after the bombs I own hit it. I want to see the kids blown to bits. I want to see the survivors scream in anguish and righteous anger. I want to hear their pain and see their suffering. I want to hear their threats of revenge and their promises of retribution.

And I want YOU to hear and see and smell and touch and taste, too. And maybe, just maybe, we'll find another way to resolve our differences with other people. We'll find a more equitable way of sharing the world's goods and resources. And we'll put away this incredibly stupid tactic called "war" forever.

[Cocoa]

12. Nightline is 100% embedded

what do they know about war reporting?

:puke: