Oklahoma City bomber seeks to have execution publicly broadcast

Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's suggestion that his May 16 execution at a federal penitentiary in Terre Haute should be publicly broadcast seems to have set a new precedent.\n"I have never seen a case of such prominence where the (person to be executed) has wanted it to be broadly telecast," said Amy Reynolds, assistant professor of journalism.\nMcVeigh will not make a legal push for a public execution, but The Associated Press reported his attorney, Rob Nigh Jr., said McVeigh supports the idea.\nMcVeigh would be the first federal inmate to be executed in more then 20 years. He dropped all appeals in January. Friday is his last day to seek clemency from President George W. Bush.\nIn a two-page letter published in the Sunday Oklahoman, McVeigh wrote he was not opposed to a closed-circuit broadcast of his execution. In fact, he went one step further. \n"Because the closed-circuit telecast of my execution raises these fundamental equal access concerns, and because I am otherwise not opposed to such a telecast, a reasonable solution seems obvious: Hold a true "public" execution -- allow a public broadcast," he wrote. \n"It has also been said that "all of Oklahoma" was a victim of the bombing. Can "all of Oklahoma watch?" he wrote.\nIn most cases, family members of victims will want to watch the execution of the inmate, said Paul Voakes, assistant professor of journalism. But, in this case, while the bombing claimed hundreds of victims, eight seats are available for witnesses. \nThe Associated Press reported about 250 people who were injured or lost loved ones in the Oklahoma City bombing want to watch McVeigh executed for the attack. The Federal Bureau of Prisons is considering a closed-circuit broadcast, according to The Associated Press.\nA national broadcast is not an option, prisons bureau spokesman Dan Dunne told The Associated Press.\n"It hasn't been considered. It won't happen," Dunne told The Associated Press. \nPrisons have never been considered open to the public, Reynolds said. The courts have generally given prisons greater leeway in issues concerning public access. \nThe Associated Press reported that the idea of televising executions is not new in the United States. Several states, including Oklahoma, have allowed relatives of murder victims to watch executions on closed-circuit television. \nIn 1994, former talk-show host Phil Donahue tried to get permission to televise the execution of murderer David Lawson, but was denied by the North Carolina Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. \nBut Michael Evans, assistant professor of journalism, said the odds are high that a tape of the execution might leak out to the media. Voakes added some media outlets might then be tempted to air the tape.\n"Any dramatic incident involving one of the most horrific crimes of the century is bound to get some viewer attention," Voakes said.\nIf the media were to air the execution tape after McVeigh dies, Reynolds said she fails to see the point.\n"What's newsworthy about it? It's already ... done," she said. \nEvans is opposed to the airing of a possible leaked tape.\n"Regardless of what he did, he is still a human being," he said. "The fact is a human being is going to die on schedule."\nReynolds said she would question the value of showing an execution.\n"You are talking about ending a human life on TV," she said.\nBeing executed by lethal injection might not be dramatic in the first place, Voakes said. Inmates are usually heavily sedated before their executions and then injected with a dose of lethal chemicals. \nVoakes said some witnesses to lethal injections in some of the court cases he has studied were not even aware of the moment of death.\nBut Evans said because McVeigh's crime so wounded American society, such an airing might help the country with its healing process. He said McVeigh's execution might be handled in two ways by the news media -- in a somber, dignified way that closes a chapter on American history; or in a way that says, "let's tease it for the 6 o'clock news."\nEvans said he regrets the sensationalism of news media as the result of economic pressures. \n"I think it's going to be a zoo," he said. "It's O.J. all over again"