MAKING CUTS

I was interested to note that, for obvious reasons, a "beheading" sequence was edited out of a piece of Saturday evening entertainment last weekend, and, whilst various people might find this to be far too cautious, or "letting the terrorists win" I genuinely do think that, in this instance, it was the right thing to do.

You could argue until the cows come home about the validity of such a possibly violent scene being considered "entertainment" anyway, but that's not really the point that I'm discussing here. After all, such scenes have featured to demonstrate "mild peril" in all sorts of movies, TV series, and historical dramas over the years, but sometimes it's about timing, and the "family audience" at which this particular programme was aimed, perhaps ought not to be exposed to such a scene during these sensitive times.

After all, it's not "Game of Thrones" is it…? Just some harmless teatime family fun, and sometimes such things are deemed "inappropriate" even if the kids go off and hack at virtual warriors in their video games afterwards.

Regularly TV shows or showings of movies are pulled from the schedule because of some breaking news story, be it a plane crash, or a stabbing at a school, and in the majority of cases this is done purely because it is understood that it might be "too soon" for a work of fiction to be graphically representing something that is horribly real, especially as the families and friends of those involved in the unfolding tragedy may possibly be viewing.

You may think that this is wrong, that such excessive sensitivity is pointless, or that "art" needs to be "challenging" in some way and take risks, but I prefer to believe that sometimes it's just showing a kindness or a courtesy to other people's suffering, and it's actually quite pleasing that in these cynical times, someone in broadcasting circles is capable of just being nice…

The decision about whether or not top cut is never lightly made, but, in my opinion, it is always better to err on the side of caution in such matters, simply because you can never really be sure just how the scene is going to be received, and, whilst it is often the case that showing the very same programme or film at a later date shouldn't make such scenes any less shocking - art, after all does sadly often imitate life and help us to understand it better - sometimes it's about timing and judging the mood of the viewing public.

You should also try to imagine the reaction of an organ such as the "Daily Mail" if such a sequence had been shown just a few days after the second brutal execution of a journalist had been revealed to the world, and a similar threat was still hanging over another hostage.

The pious, holier than thou, "How very dare they?" headlines would have been leaping out at us all, especially as they appear to be just waiting for any excuse to go "BBC Baiting" these days.

That said, the press in general really have nowhere to stand when it comes to this particular matter. Despite the family and the Foreign Office pleading for the name of the hostage not to be released, the very next morning "The Sun" had both his name and a photograph plastered all over their front page, along with some aggressive rhetoric which really, really can't have helped cool the situation down or relax the threat to the hostage.

I wonder if they were pleased with themselves? I wonder if they congratulated themselves on their exclusive, or their "bravery" at daring to be so defiant from the safety of their offices? I wonder whether they genuinely believe that the only way to deal with such a threat is to stand so very defiantly when it's somebody else's neck on the line?

Cretins.

Happily, even those news outlets that normally publish the front pages of the various newspapers on their own sites had the wisdom not to show this one as a roundabout way of getting around the "problem" of not being able to use the name, but I'm sure that it's only a matter of time before they decide, much as during the era of those "Super-Injunctions", that the knowledge is in the "public domain" and it is ridiculous to pretend any more.

Would that the papers could show the same sensitivity and restraint that the TV drama producers are prepared to.