How much violence can we show?
The New Times in the Rwandan capital Kigali ponders whether or not BBC World should have shown the picture of a man whose right ear had been chopped off in violence in the run up to the Zimbabwe election “run off” later this month,
Such pictures quite often pose a dilemma for the media; they appear so horrifying that fellow MDC supporters viewing them will think twice before going out to vote. But on the other hand, not showing them to inform the world about the extent of the violence in that once peaceful country is to stand by and watch indifferently. During the post presidential election violence in Kenya, accusations of insensitivity were levelled against the foreign media, television in particular, pointing out that live screening of events as they occurred fell on the wrong side of the human touch. The argument on showing human calamity as it evolves vis-Ã -vis editing it to especially conform to what the eyes and feelings of the victims’ relatives can bear is a debate which can go on until the chicken come to roost. link
