Fatal Luge Crash Video Easily Found on Networks

The fatal luge crash video will haunt the Olympics forever. But the fatal luge crash video of Nodar Kumaritashvili's death is just another search item online. Right after news of the fatal accident broke, people rushed to their computers to see the replay. However, the IOC helped remove most of the copies on YouTube- at least on the first day. But NBC and evening news reports weren't so shy, and now the fatal luge crash video is much easier to find online.

If online users want to want the video of Kumaritashvili getting killed, they may have better luck watching the news than searching on YouTube. Since Friday, the International Olympic Committee has been pulling the crash video from YouTube, claiming it is due to "a copyright claim."

At this point, the IOC is in full damage control mode, in more ways than one. They have to fend off criticism that the luge track was never safe, and that they have to rethink a lot of things about athlete safety. They can't control that too much, but the can control exposure of the fatal luge crash video - to a point.

The copyright claims on YouTube do not seem to apply to evening news broadcasts, or even NBC. CBS, ABC and CNN have showed the grisly clip on their broadcasts, and some news outlets have posted it online themselves. NBC even showed it multiple times to start their coverage on Friday night.

If the IOC doesn't want to have the video spread, their own partners in NBC aren't taking their lead. But at the least, NBC didn't show Kumaritashvili's death in slow motion, like the CBS Evening News did.

Every time a celebrity dies suddenly, searches for their death videos and dead bodies are usually limited to Internet fringe audiences. But the fatal luge crash video is in the media mainstream, due to its connection to the biggest sporting event of the year. Since it was an Olympic practice, it was much easier to find and leak as well.

The death of Kumaritashvili is bound to inspire all kinds of media angles. There's the obvious debates on Olympic safety, the culpability, if any, of the IOC, and the actual tragedy of a young, first-time Olympian's death. The networks may have enough to talk about without showing the fatal luge crash video - though NBC has so much time on their hands with Olympic coverage, they have ample room to show it.

It is unavoidable that many want to see the video, even if it is of someone's death. For once, YouTube and other social media outlets aren't leading the way in those searches - and for once, such a search isn't that difficult.

Sources

Seattle Times- "Google pulls Vancouver luge crash video off YouTube, still up elsewhere"

Los Angeles Times- "NBC's Vancouver coverage opens with the grisly fatal crash of a Georgian luger"