TV
Four American security guards were killed and mutilated in a horrific incident in the city of Fallujah, Iraq last week. The decisions taken by media organisations about whether to show images of the incident - and if so, exactly what to air or print - have become the centre of a controversial discussion in media circles.
CNN editorial director Richard Griffith appeared on his own network over the weekend to explain the network's decision-making process in this instance. Speaking on International Correspondents, a media analysis show that airs on CNN International, Griffth told anchor and chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour:
"These are tough calls and they come up, calls like this come up all the time. And you have to make a decision on the merits of the particular case.
"This was a particularly tough one because the images were so graphic. It was an important watershed moment. It was an important story. But the tough call for us was how do we handle it and how do we show these images. How do we find ways of telling the story.
"What we did in this particular case was screen every frame of video. Senior management too was involved in looking at every frame. Then we made a decision about what we could show that would convey the horror of what happened. We decided that the best way to handle the most graphic elements was to put it in a reporter package, prepared by our Baghdad correspondent, and in that way we could give the images some context.
"We held off on airing that package on CNN International until about 3:00 in the afternoon Atlanta time, which gave us time to properly report what happened on the ground and also to give a bit of lead time for the contractor, which we later learned was an American contractor, to be able to get the information out.
"We did the same thing on CNN domestic, making a decision until about 7:00 to hold off, again to give that contractor time to reach the families."
International Correspondents does not air on CNN's domestic channel. However, US viewers are able to view it by tuning to CNNfn on weekends, which is carried on some digital platforms.
The full transcript of the interview with Griffith, along with more discussion about coverage of the Fallujah incident, is available on the CNN website.
CNN editorial director Richard Griffith appeared on his own network over the weekend to explain the network's decision-making process in this instance. Speaking on International Correspondents, a media analysis show that airs on CNN International, Griffth told anchor and chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour:
"These are tough calls and they come up, calls like this come up all the time. And you have to make a decision on the merits of the particular case.
"This was a particularly tough one because the images were so graphic. It was an important watershed moment. It was an important story. But the tough call for us was how do we handle it and how do we show these images. How do we find ways of telling the story.
"What we did in this particular case was screen every frame of video. Senior management too was involved in looking at every frame. Then we made a decision about what we could show that would convey the horror of what happened. We decided that the best way to handle the most graphic elements was to put it in a reporter package, prepared by our Baghdad correspondent, and in that way we could give the images some context.
"We held off on airing that package on CNN International until about 3:00 in the afternoon Atlanta time, which gave us time to properly report what happened on the ground and also to give a bit of lead time for the contractor, which we later learned was an American contractor, to be able to get the information out.
"We did the same thing on CNN domestic, making a decision until about 7:00 to hold off, again to give that contractor time to reach the families."
International Correspondents does not air on CNN's domestic channel. However, US viewers are able to view it by tuning to CNNfn on weekends, which is carried on some digital platforms.
The full transcript of the interview with Griffith, along with more discussion about coverage of the Fallujah incident, is available on the CNN website.
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