Fox News executive editor John Moody says the network had a “good internal debate” before deciding to post, unedited and in full, the ISIS video believed to show the murder of a captured Jordanian pilot who was burned alive. “It’s not a question of how horrible the video is. I cannot imagine a more horrible piece of video,” Moody said in an interview Wednesday afternoon with TVNewser. “The question is whether people have a right to see it and understand that there are actually people–although I have a difficult time calling them people–that would do this.”
The network, like most Western media, has refused to show the video on the Fox News Channel or Fox Business Network. Tuesday night, Bret Baier went to great lengths to explain his decision–and to warn viewers–before showing a single still image from the video. Moody says unlike live television, nobody will see the full video on FoxNews.com without wanting to. “We put a very strong warning on the front,” Moody said, noting that the link to the video is directly under a photo from the video that makes clear it is not something most people will ever want to see. “In order to then see the video, a visitor has to make the decision to click and know what’s coming.”
Critics have blasted the network for hosting the video on FoxNews.com, with one terrorism analyst going so far as to accuse Fox News of “working for al-Qaida and ISIS’ media arm.”
“It’s a misinformed notion,” said Moody of the suggestion he’s aiding terrorists. “You can’t hide information anymore. Someone who wants to see this will find it. I hope that anyone that clicked on the video on FoxNews.com also got a lot of other information that put it in perspective.”