New Times editor on what his paper owes the reader
Joe Pompeo
In the wake of the videotaped beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff at the hands of the jihadist group ISIS, New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet weighed in on a debate that has loomed large as footage of the killings spread like wildfire across the web: to watch or not to watch.
It's a particularly tricky question for news professionals, who've had to weigh the value of informing the public about the details of these horrific deaths against the inclination, much encouraged on social media, to resist morbid curiosity.
Asked by Times media columnist David Carr whether Baquet himself had watched the videos, which have become a massive news story as ISIS militants continue to terrorize Iraq and Syria, where Foley and Sotloff were captured, Baquet said that he did not.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2014/09/8551856/new-emtimesem-editor-what-his-paper-owes-reader?top-featured-1
