WASHINGTON, — Timothy McVeigh, whose Oklahoma City bombing resulted in the deaths of 168 people, died yesterday. One question now remains: Were 1,700 journalists from around the world really needed to inform the world that Timothy McVeigh was executed?
Only ten journalists actually witnessed the execution, all the others present were prohibited by prison officials to be on jail grounds. As a result, most of these 1,690 reporters relayed rehashed news from a nearby media encampment near the prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Others reported live from Oklahoma City, where a procession of victims’ relatives were asked, over and over again, about their reactions to McVeigh’s execution.“Despite virtuous assertions that their coverage would be hype free and tasteful, the networks provided yet another overblown chunk of broadcast excess,” notes Washington Times.
Since Friday, television networks throughout the United States had promoted “minute-by-minute” coverage.
The result was a case of distorted overkill and tastelessness, and it made many very uncomfortable.
An Orlando Sentinel Florida columnist astutely reminded Americans that they were in charge of their fate: “As McVeigh Day approaches yet again, Americans might give some thought to executing their televisions. Or at least shutting them down for a day.”
“The most bizarre spectacle of the coverage had nothing to do with the coverage itself,” notes today’s Washington Post. “Juxtaposed with the discussion of McVeigh’s crime and punishment were the commercials that the networks continued to air almost until the moment McVeigh was put to death. “Although some advertisers had asked the networks to not carry their spots during the new coverage, others obviously did not. So a man’s death was sponsored by the likes of AT&T, Wal-Mart, Outback Steakhouse and Toyota.”
Most pundits agree CBS deserves the award for the ultimate act of tastelessness. Seven minutes before the execution, CBS carried a commercial from Ortho Tri-Cyclen, a birth-control pill.
“If you’re going to take the pill, why not take the only one clinically proven to make your skin look better?” the commercial asked. Reporters present at the execution noted that McVeigh’s color changed to a pallid yellow as he died.
In one of the more poignant moments of TV coverage, a CBS anchor asked the father of a victim whether he had any final words for McVeigh. He said: “I hope he’s prepared for what happens after the drugs enter his body, as he stands before his creator and faces what he has done.” The world press, meanwhile, used the execution as a portrait of American culture, and its possible “chilling” effect on President Bush’s European visit, which officially began on Tuesday.
McVeigh’s death by lethal injection also brought into question the death penalty. “I think people are upset that Americans have such a morbid interest in the process,” said an anchor for the Irish network RTE. “George Bush professes his Christianity and is a religious person, yet as governor he presided over more executions than any other in the last 25 years.”
“It felt like man, indeed almost a whole nation, had taken revenge on Timothy McVeigh,” said the BBC, adding that one journalist called the execution “a big media reunion” and compared it to US Presidential Election Night coverage.
