| After playing a pivotal role as the first to broadcast photographs of Iraqi prisoner abuse which U.S. military officials feared would lead to death of Americans overseas, CBS News has declined to show the beheading of an American civilian killed in an apparent retaliation for the Iraqi images. The decision--made first by the staff of the CBS Evening News, including managing editor Dan Rather--now an official news division policy, came on the same night that the network announced it was going to air footage of an American casually talking about killing Iraqi prisoners on tonight’s 60 Minutes II program. CBS’s choice not to air the decapitation of Nick Berg in its entirety provoked much outrage from its viewers, who faulted the network for igniting a global firestorm over American misconduct while declining to show the murderous actions of America’s enemies. "After watching it [...] I can see why the media does not want you to see it," said a poster at FreeRepublic.com, a conservative bulletin board site whose members deluged the CBS’s switchboards with hundreds of calls Tuesday evening."It would instantly turn public opinion in favor of a fast and furious escalation of the effort in Iraq." |