Censoring death

The news is often horrifying. We see awful images and hear about terrible stories each day. But it is a journalist's job to accurately portray life. Newspapers, it is said, are a mirror of society.

But there also should be some restraint in what we see. A news organization rarely will show a dead body lying in the middle of the road because that person's dignity should remain even in death.

So it was shocking to see the fatal crash involving a luger from the Republic of Georgia. The video of Nodar Kumaritashvili being launched from his sled and into a metal pole was chilling. It made me cringe when I saw it for the first time on the CBS Evening News. Then CBS showed it again. And then they showed it a third time, this time in slow motion.

I understand why the news organization decided to broadcast this horrifying moment, but did they have to show it three times? Once was more than enough.

Interestingly, England does not permit news organizations to broadcast images of death. Due to those restrictions, Jacquelin Magnay describes the crash for the UK Telegraph, including her own emotions upon seeing the video.

"I started shaking when I first saw the raw footage," she said.

She also asks the same question as me. Did we really need to see the terrifying last moments of this 21-year-old man's life over and over and over again?

UPDATE: Quite a few people have complained about the coverage.