News Judgment Old and News Judgment New: American Nicholas Berg Beheaded.

The argument surfaced last week: the gatekeepers in Big Media are mistaken--clueless, biased, disconnected--for filtering out the full horror of the Berg beheading. They haven't showed the photos or the video of the act itself. But the full horror is available on the Web, and hit meters suggest that some people are ready to see it. But will they see it on television?

[Senator] Inhofe said the photographs of U.S. soldiers mistreating hooded, naked prisoners should be accompanied by photos of mass graves and the executions of prisoners under Saddam-- as reported by CNN, May 12.

Call it a test of news judgment. Should the full graphic horror of the Nicholas Berg beheading be shown on national television, and documented by photographs in the newspaper? So far the answer from major gatekeepers is no. But I'm not entirely certain that will hold through the week.

Artículo completo en Press Think.