With regard to the June 14 editorial “Viewing an execution,” about images of the death of journalist Daniel Pearl, I believe you missed the point on why news media should be extremely selective in disseminating photographs and film that are graphic in content. Repeated exposure to such images dilutes the impact of the act itself. Your examples of the Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination, the execution of the Vietnamese soldier and the child set afire by napalm are perfect examples of this. I recall the first time I saw each of these images and the horror and revulsion that I felt. But these images have been shown so often now, that I no longer recoil; I mentally flip past them in order to insulate myself emotionally.
Another, more recent, example would be the videos of the attack on the World Trade Center.
The initial impact was overwhelming in its horror and terror and it was still disturbing when it was shown several more times.
But by late evening on Sept. 11, I had already begun to emotionally distance myself from these images.
Conversely the impact of the photo of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima cannot retain the same impact it had the first time any of us saw it.
