To show or not to show?

Writing on the The BBC Editor’s blog Craig Oliver describes the decision making process behind the broadcast of footage from a street in Jerusalem where a man went amok driving a bulldozer killing and injuring a number of people. After some discussion he decided not to show the moment of death on the Six O’Clock News, but took a different view for the ten o’clock edition,

We don’t want to sanitise the news for what is a mature and thoughtful audience. It’s also important to think about what the audience actually saw – the shot was not close-up, the action was slightly obscured because it was happening behind the bulldozer’s windscreen, the men’s faces were not visible, and no blood was seen. The scene was disturbing, and it was a fine call, but I believe it is important and illuminating very occasionally to see the reality of violence. link

This seems to be an ongoing theme on the BBC Editors blog. A similar discussion to this one was had recently.