PHIL Donahue wants to host a live, televised execution.
He thinks the public should get a chance to witness for itself the process by which convicted murderers are put to death. He feels that exposure to an actual execution is a crucial — and missing — element of the news media’s ongoing coverage of the debate over capital punishment.
And he’s taking the media to task for not pressing harder for TV-camera access to prison death chambers.
“It’s television news’ responsibility to show us the reality of the world so that we can provoke discussion,” Donahue said Tuesday evening on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”
“Are you doing it for information or as an opponent of capital punishment?” host Larry King asked.
“I am on record as being against capital punishment,” Donahue said. “I am making this argument not as an ideologue, but as a person who believes that this free-press establishment has a responsibility to show this issue, which has split families.
“In statehouses all over America, people are standing to get tough on crime, can’t wait to show off how tough they are, and the death penalty is carried out in the middle of the night when nobody is watching. And the press is standing there, while this fabulous story — and that’s what it is, a great story — is taking place right under their noses.”
It was a rare TV appearance for the talk-show pioneer, who has been out of the public eye since his daytime talk show ended its run in 1996 — after 29 years.
The silver-haired host thinks it’s hypocritical for the networks to shy away from broadcasting executions since they’re not shy about showing other deaths.
One example he cited was the controversial “60 Minutes” segment in which assisted-suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian was seen on videotape administering a lethal drug to a patient who then expired on camera.
Donahue said he doubted any of the big networks would ever air an execution. Besides, he noted, such a broadcast would lose money since no one would buy commercial time. Said he: “Who is going to sponsor it? The gas company?”