New York’s Daily News caused a major stir on Twitter after it published its Thursday cover showing screenshots of Wednesday’s on-air murder of reporters in Virginia.
With the headline “EXECUTED ON LIVE TV,” it shows a frame-by-frame view of the video captured from the shooter, Vester Lee Flanagan, point-of-view at the exact moment he started firing.
The last frame in the cover photo shows Alison Parker’s terrified face just after she had been struck by the first bullet.
An early look at tomorrow’s front page…
EXECUTED ON LIVE TV: http://t.co/8X8tEKXIhJ pic.twitter.com/UOsjmUdBJw— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) August 27, 2015
Reaction to the cover came swiftly, and pointed out that publishing this on the cover of a New York news paper will give the killer exactly what he wanted.
@NYDailyNews the fact that you even have someone or a team on staff who thought that cover image was a good idea is disturbing. #NYDailyNews
— Tom Coates (@MrTomCoates) August 27, 2015
https://twitter.com/Liria_NYC/status/636863010737274881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This is beyond distasteful and disrespectful to the families of those who were tragically killed today #nydailynews https://t.co/0mN1Ul98fJ
— ANDRE DEL VALLE (@AndreFDelValle) August 27, 2015
If you do one thing today to embrace humanity and decency, #boycott the NY Daily News. @NYDailyNews #dailynews #RoanokeShooting #nydailynews
— Jon Burk (@MrJonBurk) August 27, 2015
“There is an emphasis on winning the front page,” Jake Duhaime, a friend of Parker’s boyfriend Chris Hurst, told the Washington Post. “… But sometimes you have to step back and say, ‘This is a little bit too far.’ These are friends, family members — these are people’s lives.”
The New York Post, another tabloid in the city, went with a similar image and the headline “TV MURDER.”
This report, by Josh Fatzick, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
