Nets air edited Saddam vid

Major news outlets faced an ultimate ethical dilemma — whether or not to televise an execution — when what appeared to be cell phone video emerged Saturday from the scene of Saddam Hussein’s execution. Some U.S. networks ran portions of the video, which predictably spread like wildfire through the Internet.

Fox News Channel was the first to run some of the footage shortly after 4 p.m. EST Saturday. The grainy, shaky video includes an angle of the hanging and audio of sometimes testy exchanges between Saddam, his executioners and witnesses as the former dictator is led to the gallows.

It wasn’t clear who shot the video, which appeared on a Web site and then on a pan-Arab news channel, or how it made its way to the public. The video was later uploaded to APTN, the Associated Press’ video news service, which made it available to every network.
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