Did I see Ch4 news correctly??

Is it just me? Did anyone watch Ch4 news tonight?
The newscaster looked flustered near the end - like he knew what was coming..
Until tonight, I have respected the integrity of Channel 4 news.
However, at the end of the 7-9-04 19:00 news programme they broadcast a section of terrorist video filmed WITHIN the Beslan school seige - inside the bloody gym! [literally bloody unfortunately].
This was without doubt the most immoral viewing I have ever witnessed on British television. How many of those scared children on video are now dead?
I hope that whoever is responsible for allowing this revolting broadcast is prosecuted as a criminal. Is there no limit to what is acceptable viewing?

Any other opinions?

 

not sure if its the same but the bbc have just showen some video footage of the seige ,suprise suprise they made a point of some praying supposidly in arabic

 

thank god, allah and little baby jesus i never watch the sickening shit they call the news these days. once again i feel totally vindicated that i've made the choice to raise the v's to the news media with a resounding f*ck off and die shouted in their general direction.
cheers


julian

 

$KY News are now running it as their main story .

 

Sure - what's immoral about showing it?

Edit: perhaps I should amplify - I would hope that footage of this kind will help swing more weight against terrorism, etc, etc., making it moral to show it, in my book. (At least on our news) there was no suggestion of titillation or the like.

I've seen some shocking footage of WWII on TV too (for example), and it contributes to us never forgetting what horrors man is capable of.

 

Voyuerism is all about titillation. I would not approve of censoring facts, but this video adds no further news to what we have already been told. Moreover, we used to have a distinction between what was 'adult' and 'family' viewing in the UK. Nowadays its all 'tits with breakfast'.
The WWII film is crucial for the history of mankind but it wasn't broadcast before the funerals took place, and it has always come with an informed commentary+program content warning. The concentration camps were a secret that needed [[and still needs] communicating. I don't need to see a propaganda video for a currently active terrorist group.

 

Heard this morning it had also been broadcast on Russian TV - now that's what I call sadistic

 

Oh, I see - when you said "any other opinions" it was really just a little trap to get poor saps to respond so you could keep restating yours, Graham?

 

I'm with Steve on this one. I'm glad I didn't watch it, though, I don't need reminding how barbaric mankind can be.

 

Well, I'm with Graham on this one. There was no need [at this time] to broadcast such footage. IMO it helps no one and, as if the standard of journalism [in the UK] wasn't bad enough at the moment, this only reinforces the 'route one' approach of most news agencies. I would have been more impressed if they had either a) Mentioned that it would be shown after the watershed. b) Had the guts not to show it at all.

 

Wot Julian sed - shame we've finally got to the state of "You must be evil" off of Chris Rea's "Road to hell" - I make a point of avoiding the news these days.

As for showing WWII footage with documentaries etc, I bet you nasty footage was shown as newsreels before films, both in the UK and Germany, as propaganda, so don't be so rose tinted, peeps.

 

I don't see a problem with it myself. Various stills from the footage are on the front pages of all this morning's papers (broadsheets and tabloids) so it seems like the consensus amongst the media is that it's newsworthy.

I haven't seen the video but hope I get a chance to see it. I don't have any shame in admitting that at least some part of that desire is voyeurism. OTOH, people who claim to have no voyeuristic desires are lying.

Who didn't want to watch the 2nd plane as it crashed into the WTC tower opn 9/11? Who didn't want to watch footage of the jumpers from the towers? Who didn't want to watch pretty much any and every bit of 9/11 coverage they could lay their hands on?

I'd only question whether it should have been shown before the watershed but even on that point I'm in doubt.

Michael.

 

I have seen the news completely degenerate, and I pity the state our country is in, beurocrats, yes men, all wanting to make things happen, faceless puffs in suits with no personality. making rules, afraid to challange, afraid to say what everyone is thinking.

First of all they got rid of the old good ones like Martyn Lewis.
Then replaced with some bright young things, just for their looks, tv is now about looks, note how there is no ugly ones on big brother, young good looking,
dumbed the news down totally, too.
Piss poor journalism, they don't tell you anything on purpose.
Now you get this, actually seeing shit as it happens, I wrote an article in college 15 yrs ago predicting this sort of thing, and here it is.
I don't want to watch starving people whilst eating my tea, it is put there deliberately to manipulate you.
I am now indifferent to suffering, people dying, who cares?? its all around, not that I don't, just I have seen it left right, centre, on the news, I have fatigued of it, you see it all the time, ohh, another murder, big deal.
Its not that I am hard and callous, the opposite, just I see through the media manipulation, they report on house prices, spreading jelousy, fear, that's all they are about, negative feelings, footballers getting millions for nothing, envy hatred greed that's news for you.
and above all, fear, play on your fears.
I am disgusted with the news, and this sort for our kids to see, too, at 6 o clock. abhorrent. they are no better than the people who do this sort of thing, and they spread it, too. the media have a big part to play, now we all know how to terrorise, drive a petrol tanker laden into a school, set off a smoke bomb in a shopping centre, crush people to death, all the world knows how to suicide bomb, and the news has told us all how to do it.
And they do it with such moral righteousness, we inform, we give unbiased comment. I resent the news and the media a lot. I wish others would see it for how it is and what it does.

 

Amen to that.

 

All a bit pious, chaps.

I agree with Michael, compulsive viewing in all probability.

You can't stop progress.

 

The video is available on the bbc noise website in realplayer format.

 

Showing the video obviously has political implications. I.e. generate a lot of emotion amongst the Russians against the terrorists/rebels, which in my view Putin will fully exploit by becoming more heavy-handed perhaps. I'm not sure it will help either cause in the long run though. In fact, quite the opposite I fear, by driving both sides even further apart.

Edit: and it starts...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3636818.stm

 

on another tac, I am finding it quite hard to believe a few of the errors, apparently there were no ambulances deployed on stand by??
but to say putin is weak, he was ex kgb, and a head of it? he is pretty strong, and obviously can make decisions.
I wonder if they made a balls up of it, and its just a story to say a bomb went off. The russians are known for being a bit bumbling but deadly.

 

The official line that a bomb "came unstuck" and went off accidentally, causing chaos and then escaping kids being shot at (by the terrorists) is pretty believable. The special forces probably weren't quite ready and got taken by surprise. A bunch of armed civillians running in with the special forces didn't help matters.

Unlike the Moscow theatre bloodbath I don't think you can entirely blame the special forces for going in all guns blazing when it wasn't necessary. You can blame them for not being properly prepared and not being able to implement a proper security cordon around the school though to keep the terrorists in and hysterical parents out when everything went tits up. You can bet the SAS would have handled it much better.

Michael.

 

The BBC's expert is rather scathing of the Russian military:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3632332.stm