Hordes went online to see the video unfiltered. American news anchors comforted viewers that it would stop short of the actual moment of the trap door’s release. Soon, it was on the American networks that previously aired the official version. Visit for breaking news, world news, and news about the economyĪl-Jazeera showed an edited version. The video went viral and news media had to follow. It was off-script and unmanicured, outside the desires of professional image managers. The on-looking officials and guards hovered over his body, shouting in celebration. When Hussein was hung, 1:40 into the video, the snap of his neck was audible, betraying a gruesomeness absent from the official clip. This referred to a Shia political leader and cleric whose Grand Ayatollah father was gunned down in 1999, probably on Hussein’s orders. Some of those in attendance chanted “Moqtada” repeatedly. The audio hinted at the deep sectarianism and lack of procedural care that made the hanging seem more like vulgar retribution than the outcome of a just and sound legal proceeding. The sound caught in the mobile phone recording told a very different story. Yet, the grainy and jerky two-and-half minute video proved to be the more potent and memorable of the videos. The poor quality recording is a reminder of how bad cell phone cameras were. This video circulated online after it was posted on the video website, Warning (Graphic video): Since the guests were made to give up their cell phones before entering, it had to be smuggled in. Whoever shot it was below, in front of the gallows, while the official cameraman was at the top. Less than 48 hours afterwards, someone leaked online a cell phone video of the execution. The audio track, however, was not provided by the Iraqi government. The first video was the official one, taken on a professional grade camera. It was broadcast on networks around the world. It was the Hussein regime’s execution chamber. On the day of the hanging seven years ago, US helicopters flew Iraqi officials and witnesses who testified against Hussein to the site of the execution, an old military intelligence facility. The country is being rocked by its highest levels of violence since 2007. Hussein’s execution proved to be but a hiccup in the complex civil war that embroiled Iraq in 2006-2007 and it still felt today. There was historical score-settling, longstanding tribal and regional rivalries, shifting alliances with foreign actors, including the United States and Iran, and groups motivated by religion or ideology conducted campaigns of violence. However, the continued fighting was not clearly related to Hussein’s fate. Critics of the war questioned the legality of the invasion that brought about the deposed leader’s trial. The fallen tyrant tried to use it as a podium for grandiose rhetoric. The conclusion of a guilty verdict seemed preordained. Many saw the trial itself as corrupt, political theater. If they thought it would help bring a cessation to the sectarian and factional fighting that wracked an Iraq under American military occupation, they were wrong. Iraq’s new government rushed the deposed tyrant’s hanging after a lengthy, controversial tria l. They depicted the same event but with important differences that expose the promise and peril of mobile recording devices for changing how news is produced and consumed. The execution was a tale of two recordings: the controlled, stage-managed official video and the viral, leaked cell phone clip. The leaked cell phone video of Saddam Hussein’s hanging did just that, making it a notable moment in citizen journalism history. Rarely does one video totally alter the tenor of news coverage, however. The photos and videos taken by ordinary people at scenes of violence, from the Boston Marathon bombing to chemical weapons attacks in Syria, shape how those events will be remembered by those of us who only saw the destruction from afar. Today, citizen-produced media content is integral to the news we consume, whether used in regular coverage or posted directly to a social media platform. It revealed the potential of mobile phone recordings to undermine the official telling of news events. One of the earliest leaked, newsworthy cell phone recordings to go viral was of the Decemexecution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
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