Newspapers in the U.S. and U.K. sparked outrage Wednesday evening after publishing front page images showing the brutal murder of two TV journalists in Virginia.
The New York Daily News tweeted an image of its Thursday front page showing three still images from the video Vester Flanagan recorded as he killed WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward. The images were framed by the words "EXECUTED ON LIVE TV."
An early look at tomorrow’s front page... EXECUTED ON LIVE TV: http://t.co/8X8tEKXIhJ
The Daily News and its cover quickly began trending on Twitter, with the vast majority of comments criticizing the front page as insensitive and tasteless.
At one point Wednesday evening, outrage over the cover drove the Daily News to at least the third most popular trending topic on Twitter in the U.S.
The NY Daily News is the definition of scum. All involved with this cover needs a serious psychiatric evaluation.
Completely speechless that the NY Daily News would even think to print that. Classless and uncalled for
The NY Daily News is fucked up
A Member of media executed 2 people and NY Daily News celebrates it by giving him a cover.
Just saw the NY Daily News' cover for tomorrow's issue. Stunningly graphic and a monumentally poor decision by someone. No respect at all.
So no one is going to buy the NY Daily News ever again right?
The Daily News could not immediately be reached for comment.
The New York Post also used a similar still from the same video on its front page.
As expected, NY Post following Daily News with #WDBJ killings on front page https://t.co/bWJQKqoQ4n
The papers were not the only organizations to prominently share images from Flanagan's video, but they nevertheless seemed to become a focus for uneasiness about the way the shooting generally played out in the media.
Newswire service Reuters also posted a similar series of photos from the killings to its Facebook page late Wednesday.
Several tabloids in the U.K. also ran front pages with images from the video that showed Flanagan's gun going off and Parker's terrified reaction just moments before her death.
Ugh. Imagine Brit media outrage if murder of Jill Dando was filmed and US papers ran splashes like these.
Here's tomorrow's front page
While the U.S. has seen a string of mass shootings in recent months and years, news of Wednesday's killing spread especially quickly through social media after Flanagan posted videos on Twitter and Facebook. The video he recorded, and his relatively active online presence, also provided an abundance of media that could be quickly shared and distributed.
All of that media combined with new technologies, such as auto-playing videos on Facebook and Twitter, led some to view the horrific images before they had a chance to opt out.
But by the end of the day Wednesday, many people were expressing dismay over the images thrust into their timelines, and with organizations — including the Daily News — that spotlighted those images.
The media glorifying this on-air shooting WANT The Hunger Games to be real. The media loves violence and sick fucks in this country crave it
I'm legitimately disturbed by this whole Virginia shooting. By the act itself and by the media coverage.
I'm sure the families of the victims today don't appreciate the actual video of the shooting continuously being shared on social media
Today's coverage by the media of the Virginia shooting of 2 members of the media reminds me of the murder house scene in Nightcrawler.
Amid the criticism, however, some publications and users were praised for sharing images of Parker and Ward.
I'm not sharing the NY Daily News cover. Instead, I'm sharing this photo &hoping you'll do the same. #WeStandWithWDBJ
Hey @NYDailyNews, you might want to check out the @RTDNEWS's front page. Take notes, please.