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McVeigh Execution Webcast Denied
April 18 -- A judge today denied an Internet company's request to broadcast the execution of Timothy McVeigh on the Web.
Lawyers for Florida-based Entertainment Network Inc., which operates porn sites as well as the VoyeurDorm and Dormdudes sites, argued Tuesday in Indianapolis federal court that a federal law barring the broadcast of executions is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment.
The public, ENI argued, has the right to see the federal government execute an inmate for the first time since 1963.
However, U.S. District Judge John Tinder disagreed, saying in 31-page decision today that the Bureau of Prisons' media restrictions surrounding executions do not suppress freedom of speech and communication.
"Whatever First Amendment protection exists for viewing executions, it is not violated by BOP's explicit regulation against recording or broadcasting them to the public," Tinder wrote.
ENI wanted to send one person into the execution chamber with a hand-held video camera that would feed live footage to the company's Web site. If the court didn't allow that, ENI would have accepted a feed from the closed-circuit video that the families of bombing victims will watch in Oklahoma City. Tinder denied the company access to that feed as well.
Execution TV for a Small Fee
ENI wanted to charge users $1.95 each for the McVeigh Webcast, which would have been paid by credit card to make sure children could not view execution, said David Marshlack, ENI chief executive. Marshlack, whose site also hosted a live chat by O.J. Simpson, said the proceeds would have gone to charity.
The ruling is similar to case brought in 1994, in which Phil Donahue tried to get permission to broadcast an execution in North Carolina. The Supreme Court ruled that executions could not be recorded or photographed.
Bureau of Prisons officials, who originally dismissed a letter from ENI asking for a Web camera in the execution chamber, said they didn't want the case sensationalized. They also said they were concerned about the impact a Webcast would have on other inmates and on the prisoner's rights to privacy, although in this case, McVeigh has already said in a letter to a newspaper that he wishes his execution to be public.
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