Readers respond to coverage of US execution livestream row

The Guardian’s letters page this week carries a response to international condemnation of a US plan to livestream a judicial killing, with a North Yorkshire reader asking why historic execution images remain in print while live footage is decried as “medieval” and “disturbing”.

Writing about the paper’s 9 October report on the plan linked to Pete Hegseth, Nick Hopkinson of Tockwith, North Yorkshire, points to photographs published on page 8 of last Saturday’s edition.

"In view of the worldwide revulsion at Pete Hegseth’s decision to livestream a judicial killing (‘Medieval’ and ‘disturbing’: US plan to livestream execution elicits global condemnation, 9 October), how come there were photos of two more – a man awaiting execution in an electric chair in 1928 and conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on the gallows in 1865 – on page 8 of last Saturday’s paper (next to your article on whether Christa Pike’s botched execution might help to end the death penalty in the US). I’m glad they weren’t filmed."

The letter highlights the tension between contemporary outrage at the prospect of broadcasting an execution and the routine reproduction of archival images of past executions in news coverage.

Other letters

The same edition of Brief letters also carries correspondence on a range of other topics.

• Everest history: William Purkhardt of Godalming, Surrey, says a 15 October feature on The Welsh mountain inn that helped conquer Everest, the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel, made no mention of Sir Charles Evans, who lived just miles away in Capel Curig and whose tankard hangs behind the bar. Purkhardt calls Evans "a hero of British mountaineering who is too often absent from commentary, and the reason the hotel was part of the story in the first place."
• Zoo safety wording: Charles Foster of Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, argues The Guardian has "fallen into a tautological trap" after reporting that zoos must "follow strict safety procedures to protect their animals and human staff and visitors". "One wonders who on the staff is not human," he writes.
• Accent impersonations: Rob Hutchinson of Newport, Isle of Wight, follows up his wife’s 9 October letter about winding him up with her Brummie "Sainsers" pronunciation, adding: "‘Sainsers’ I can bear; a Birmingham accent I can bear; her impersonation of one, as a Scot, is more than I can bear."
• Lord’s naming: Peter Malpass of Bristol restates his long-held view that the upper and lower levels of the Compton stand at Lord’s cricket ground should have been named after the Dorset villages of Over and Nether Compton.