Lynn Smith: "Web Amplified Message of Primitive Executions": June 30, 2004

"Right now, they're coming into your home. It's like they're using technology as a vehicle for war." [...] Ritual beheading is as primitive as war gets. But 21st century technology is making the grisly details of such killings visible to millions around the world. [...] "Nick Berg" was the second most popular search request on Google in May, following "American Idol." Last week, the most popular search was for "Paul Johnson." [...] "The point of terrorism is to strike fear and cause havoc — and that doesn't happen unless you have media to support that action and show it to as many people as they can" [...] In the United States, news executives who traditionally draw the line at depicting the most graphic war violence now face a media landscape where millions get unfiltered images on the Internet almost instantaneously. [...] [Robert Thompson:] Do media outlets limit themselves, knowing the videos are widely available? Or do they show everything and run the risk of doing exactly what the terrorists wanted? [...] overwhelming online interest in such images belies the notion of viewer squeamishness. For reasons that may include a simple desire to keep up with the news, morbid curiosity or salaciousness, people are digging past the mainstream news sites to find the raw footage. [...] Beheading is a powerfully brutal act that taps into very primal human fears, Kalayjian says. Watching video — on TV or the Internet — can trigger symptoms in the same way seeing the act in person can. "Now we're not just reading it in the newspaper. We're seeing the process, hearing the outcries, the suffering, pain and terror," she says."
[Los Angeles Times]