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What do you think of the media showing video of Olympic luger's death

Is it ok to show the video of his accident?

  • Yes it's perfectly ok

    Votes: 9 28.1%
  • No, it's disrespectful and exploitive

    Votes: 22 68.8%
  • other

    Votes: 1 3.1%

  • Total voters
    32

MyOwnDrum

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CBS has the video footage of the luge accident that killed Nodar Kumaritashvili from the nation of Georgia. Yes, I watched the video, it was on their website. It goes on to blandly discuss the mild weather after showing video footage of his death.

Is this ok to show the video? They also have closeups of him right before the accident. Yes, it is morbidly riveting, I admit.

[ame="http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6202969n"]Olympic Athlete Dies in Training - CBS News Video[/ame]
 
I voted that it's exploitive. Don't watch it if you agree with me. I feel as if the press has lost all sense of proportion and decency.
 
I've seen lots of news footage of people being shot by the cops, people jumping out of buildings, people getting hit by cars... I think the decency ship has sailed.
 
I watched it.

It's like: "Here, a video of someone dieing, with freeze-frames of him split seconds before his death by impact with an I-Beam...Ain't it cool?"

"Now, the obligatory comments from a person who cares, reactions from random bystanders, and follow it up with a bit on the vaguely related weather oddities, which we blame on an 'El Neino'." "Finially, a bit about possible changes in the luge course."

On a more serious note, why aren't those beams padded?
 
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I guess our ancestors used to gather to watch public executions. It's a morbid fascination with death, I suppose. Kevorkian used to look into the eyes of those he assisted right before death.
 
As far as padding the support beams, it may or may not help at 88 MPH. Why don't they have a big padded cushion all along the track?
 
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5lAS7H6tkg"]YouTube- Olympic Athlete Dies in Training[/ame]

I couldn't see the video for some reason, so I had to find it on youtube. This is a news report.

Who the **** voted that showing this crap is alright???
 
YouTube- Olympic Athlete Dies in Training

I couldn't see the video for some reason, so I had to find it on youtube. This is a news report.

Who the **** voted that showing this crap is alright???

I did, why not? Why shouldn't it be shown? What's the negative aspect of it being shown? If you don't want to see it don't watch it. In my opinion, this athlete gave permission to the press to video tape his practice runs by particpating in the olmypics and I think the press has a right to report what they shot.
 
The fact that at this point in the poll 5 people think its perfectly ok to show this is an indication that our society is sick. People have become desensitized to the point where they no longer have any basic decency.
 
The fact that at this point in the poll 5 people think its perfectly ok to show this is an indication that our society is sick. People have become desensitized to the point where they no longer have any basic decency.

Do you have a problem with JFK's death being shown too? or MLK?
 
I don't know what to think of that. If I was in the luger's family I'd probably be really upset about it being on television.

It is an interesting point about JFK. I remember watching a documentary last November where they showed his head exploding from the kill shot several times as if it was routine.

I guess nothing is sacred anymore.
 
I've seen lots of news footage of people being shot by the cops, people jumping out of buildings, people getting hit by cars... I think the decency ship has sailed.

100% agree. :(
 
This kind of footage doesn't get shown in many European countries because it contravenes codes of taste and decency that all broadcasters have to abide by. You can argue that such codes are censorship, but there is nowhere in the World that I am aware of that allows the totally unfettered broadcast of any image. Boundaries of taste are entirely socially constructed.

You don't need to have a code however to be able to decide that showing the violent moment of death of an individual is both tasteless, intrusive and does nothing to further public understanding of the news story.
 
It's disgraceful, no doubt about it.
 
I did, why not? Why shouldn't it be shown? What's the negative aspect of it being shown? If you don't want to see it don't watch it. In my opinion, this athlete gave permission to the press to video tape his practice runs by particpating in the olmypics and I think the press has a right to report what they shot.

So they have a right to show him die? No, they do not, and I'm sure the family of the athlete would prefer that the video not be shown on news.
 
So they have a right to show him die? No, they do not, and I'm sure the family of the athlete would prefer that the video not be shown on news.

So you're saying the press doesn't have a right to show what they shot?
 
Apparently 76% here are civilized, the other 24% are something else.
Probably a huge improvement since the days of the gladiators and lions..
 
I'm saying they should respect the privacy of the family, considering the events that took place.

I guess the difference here is I believe the media has the right to show it but you think they shouldn't show it based on moral grounds?
 
The fact that at this point in the poll 5 people think its perfectly ok to show this is an indication that our society is sick. People have become desensitized to the point where they no longer have any basic decency.

....How is this any different than people watching public executions 100, 200 or even 500 years ago? What is "sick" about our society today that wasn't sick 150 years ago? I've seen cartoons of Abe Lincoln's death, I've seen the execution of Saddam Hussein, I've seen cops shooting people on television. What exactly is it about today that was different 70 years ago?
 
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I guess the difference here is I believe the media has the right to show it but you think they shouldn't show it based on moral grounds?

If yo'd rather have the family of the athlete sue NBC to stop showing the video, and demand compensation for this potential exploitation...

Quite often, moral and legal grounds are the same. In this case, I believe them to be the same.
 
If yo'd rather have the family of the athlete sue NBC to stop showing the video, and demand compensation for this potential exploitation...

Quite often, moral and legal grounds are the same. In this case, I believe them to be the same.

What grounds would the family sue NBC on?
 
What grounds would the family sue NBC on?

Depending on how they want to go about it, they could file a tort-based lawsuit. Permitted that the tort lawsuit is based upon injury, it could be argued that the injury to the family was emotional.

The family could also argue that their family member's death was exploited by NBC for financial gain, and they did not receive any compensation for the gain.

I'm not a lawyer, but if I can scrounge up two possibilities in five minutes, I'm sure an actual lawyer could establish the foundations for a class-action lawsuit in a few months.
 
Depending on how they want to go about it, they could file a tort-based lawsuit. Permitted that the tort lawsuit is based upon injury, it could be argued that the injury to the family was emotional.

The family could also argue that their family member's death was exploited by NBC for financial gain, and they did not receive any compensation for the gain.

I'm not a lawyer, but if I can scrounge up two possibilities in five minutes, I'm sure an actual lawyer could establish the foundations for a class-action lawsuit in a few months.

The family wouldn't be able to get anything out of this, nor should they be able to.
 
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