The Fall of Kabul | News Coverage

[Keith]

The philosophic question is should the footage continue to be sanitised?

Ironically modern film and drama show fictional scenes that are very gruesome and are tagged as upsetting, every programme now seems to have a warning.

I think Jeremy Bowen suggested a while ago that we shouldn't be diluting the horror of these events. Other countries/broadcasters do go further.

I think the issue is that those modern films and drama are either shown post-watershed or have age certification on streaming/cinema/catchup. By contrast with the news pre-watershed it's quite possible for families and children to casually tune in to the live programme. Maybe for the likes for post-watershed UK bulletins such as BBC News at 10 and Newsnight it's okay not to dilute. However for evening bulletins and daytime rolling news it's unlikely to be appropriate, and would probably result in OFCOM complaints.