• The Hollywood Reporter , Tuesday, January 2, 2007 11:30 AM

News outlets faced the choice of whether to televise the execution of Saddam Hussein when a cell phone video of the event emerged over the weekend, with some running portions after it was made easily available online.

Fox News was the first to run some of the footage: a grainy depiction that includes the hanging and exchanges between Saddam, his executioners and witnesses as he is led to his death. It is not clear who shot it, but the video was uploaded to an Associated Press video news service, which makes it available to every network.

"The real journalistic value of the footage, if it is authentic, is that it gives you much more of the context surrounding his execution," says CNN president Jon Klein. "You learn so much more about what really was said, and how fraught with sectarian fervor the whole issue was. That could not be conveyed better than listening to the sound of the moment, even more so than the video."

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