Death porn or just sharing the latest news?

Nodar Kumaritashvili s Death Youtube A video showing Olympic athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili's final moments in his fatal run down Whistler's luge track Friday was broadcast on CTV and on the broadcaster's Olympic website, and quickly circulated on the Internet despite You-Tube's efforts to remove it from view.

Coverage of the accident, which spread faster through Twitter than through traditional media, sparked controversy with some online contributors criticizing the decision to broadcast the fatal crash while others were quick to share it and still others reacted almost callously to the death.

"I was on Twitter when it happened, so that's when I first heard about it," said Alfred Hermida, who leads the integrated journalism program at the Graduate School of Journalism of the University of British Columbia. "I heard the first reports of the death through Twitter and I heard about the video through Twitter.

"The reaction I saw from people I follow was, 'I didn't need to see that video.' Their reaction was shock and horror."

The Vancouver Sun decided not to post the video of the crash or graphic photos of the fatally injured luger.

As a news event, the incident was yet another dramatic demonstration of how the dissemination of news has changed.

"The fact is, it was almost instantly broadcast online," Hermida said. "Before, we had a media system where everything was filtered through journalists, but that doesn't happen any more.

"It transfers the responsibility to [consumers of news] to decide whether to watch this video or not."

Vancouver's Anthony Floyd disagreed with the airing of the video and shared his distaste for some Twitter reactions to the accident. "CTV was SO irresponsible in showing that video. Toronto Sun now reporting that Georgia luger Nodar Kumaritashvili dies at Whistler today," he wrote on Twitter. Nodar Kumaritashvili