Saddam Hussein's execution filmed on mobile camera phone

Mashable published a link to the grainy and shaky mobile camera phone video of Saddam Hussein’s execution.

The person doing the filming wasn’t very good at keeping the camera steady… it’s all over the place. Whatever your perspective on the execution, the footage is compelling, particularly as the mass media here in the UK appeared to only have still images of Saddam with the noose around his neck. So compelling that, as I’m writing this text, the above linked video has been viewed almost 900,000 times. Just that link. On Google Video. Not counting Youtube, Revver and the countless versions of the same video.

What’s fascinating, from a mobile industry viewpoint, is that the mobile medium — mobile footage — is now very much an accepted by all. Even Fox News was getting in on the action. As I was flicking across the news channels, I saw the Fox News anchorman talking about the footage. (I’m not sure if it was actually aired.)

I also wonder what Scoopt could/would have done with the footage, had they been approached with it exclusively by the owner.

I liked how Pete at Mashable put it:

We won’t pass judgement on those that want to see the clip, but what’s becoming abundantly clear is that information can no longer be suppressed – with cameraphones, video-sharing sites and thousands of independent bloggers, not to mention the social filters and rating systems that help us find the most interesting content, this media will always become available online.