Did You Need to See Kevin Ware's Gory Leg-Break?

Should news outlets and social media replay graphic video and audio clips?

A couple recent examples: Kevin Ware's compound leg fracture in the NCAA men's basketball tournament or, closer to home, Jessica Schaffhausen's 911 call after her ex-husband told her he'd killed their children?

CBS aired Ware's injury live but held back on replays—an approach the network's sports chairman defended to the Associated Press:

"If people want to go watch the footage for whatever reason, they have a right to do so," [Sean] McManus said. "I just didn't think we had any obligation to be the facilitator of putting that footage back on the screen. We documented it, we described it and we showed it, and I think that was enough." (See the full AP article at Huffington Post.)

The attraction to bad news has a biological explanation, Wake Forest University professor Eric Wilson, author of a book called Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can’t Look Away, told WCCO-TV:

“Our heart rate goes up, our body releases chemicals. We really do get a sick thrill, a cheap titillation,” he said.

Wilson says we all have kind of morbid curiosity within us. Sometimes it can be positive, like when Princess Diana died.

“Suddenly this is an opportunity where we can feel like a community of people all feeling sorry for the same person,” he said. (See the full story at minnesota.cbslocal.com)

Should news organizations and social media spread sound and pictures of horrific events? Leave a comment below.