Deciding how much graphic violence to show
Exceptions to the rule
Note: I mistakenly sent this column out earlier today only to paid subscribers, so I’m resending it so all readers can see it. Apologies if you get it twice. Operator error!
-Dave B.
The Washington Post boldly published graphic photos and video online this week as part of a continuing series on the damage inflicted on Americans by the AR-15 rifle during mass shootings. No readers are forced to look at the images. Editors wisely give several cautions before online readers can click through to the content if they choose to do so.
The decision highlights the tough calls journalists occasionally face when covering tragic or violent stories.
The general rule is not to show anything too violent. We don’t show bodies at crime scenes or accidents. We usually don’t show horrible things happening to someone. It’s not because journalists are there to sanitize a terrible event. It’s because our coverage goes to a wide audience, some of whom just don’t want to see that in their living room. Journalists never know who’s going to view a story because the audience might include children. We also try to keep in mind the impact of our coverage on victims’ families.
The Washington Post’s editor wrote a companion piece to the AR-15, explaining why they opted to run the images. “The goal was to balance two crucial objectives: to advance the public’s understanding of mass killers’ increasing use of this readily available weapon, which was originally designed for war, while being sensitive to victims’ families and communities directly affected by AR-15 shootings.”
The Post editors and reporters discussed each item before publishing it. They engaged in talks with victims’ families, like at the Las Vegas concert shooting or the Uvalde school shooting, “some of whom see a potential value in publishing content to increase public awareness and others who see such coverage as dehumanizing and traumatizing.”
Every story is different
As I said, most of the time, journalists don’t show graphic footage. I recall a time in my career as a TV news director when we received some footage that presented our newsroom with a tough call.
It was police dashcam video of a deputy pursuing a pickup truck. The truck’s driver was suspected of having stolen a riding lawn mower from a store. The deputy tried to pull over the suspected thief, but the pickup sped away. What happened next was truly horrifying. The pickup driver approached an intersection at high speed. The light was red, with another vehicle stopped ahead of him. The driver pulled into the oncoming lane to swerve around the stopped vehicle and run through the red light when a semi approaching from the left at highway speed t-boned the driver’s side of the pickup, killing both occupants of the pickup truck. It was a violent collision – hard to watch.
I don’t remember how or why the sheriff’s department released the dashcam video – probably in response to a request from some enterprising journalist. All I know is suddenly we had this video. What do we do with it?
As usual in these kinds of cases, we gathered news staff in an edit booth to watch the video and talk about what to do. We were fortunate to have experienced, wise people on our staff to weigh in. We discussed the merits. It certainly was upsetting video. Was there anything to be gained from showing it? It had been a big story that we had covered for several days.
Our options were 1) not run it, 2) show the police pursuit and the aftermath but edit out the actual collision, 3) show the pursuit and then freeze the video just before impact, or 4) we could show the whole thing, with appropriate warnings to our viewers.
In the end, we showed the full video, including the collision. Part of my reasoning was that if ever there was a clear lesson in why people shouldn’t flee from police, this was it. Maybe someone being chased by police in the future would recall the video, do the right thing and simply pull over. Although it ended badly for the suspect and his passenger, what if HE had slammed into a family’s minivan at that intersection and killed some little kids?
In my view, the ends justified the means. We made sure to give viewers multiple warnings to turn away if they didn’t want to see the video. I concluded that just maybe the mental image of this driver’s terrible decision could save a life somewhere down the road. Wishful thinking, perhaps. Impossible to know.
Interestingly, all three news stations in town made three different decisions. One edited out the impact. One froze the video just before impact. We ran the whole thing. All three are perfectly justified. If I had it to do over again, I’d run the full video.
Journalists shouldn’t make a habit of what we did, or what the Washington Post published this week. It should be rare, it should be carefully discussed, and it should have meaning for viewers who might better understand the results of the violent things that happen in our communities.
Paid subscribers to any of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative columns are invited to a holiday party with the writers on Thursday, December 7th, 5:00-6:30 pm, at the Witmer House, 2900 Grand Avenue in Des Moines. Click below to reserve your spot. I look forward to seeing you there!
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Ellen Won Steil grew up in Iowa in a Korean American family. She earned her BA in journalism
from Drake University and a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law. She lives in
Minnesota with her husband and two young sons. She believes most good stories have at least a hint of darkness in them. For more information, visit www.ewsteil.com.
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