Suppose a state decided to either reinstate public executions or televise them. Is there any federal law that would prohibit an execution from being televised? Would it be considered obscene or indecent under FCC regulations? What about cable or pay-per-view?
I don’t know about Federal law, but in Minnesota there is a state law that prohibits any execution from being in public, except for legal witnesses.* It also required all executions to take place after dark. It was called the “Midnight Assassination Law”. It also prohibited news media from publishing any descriptions of the execution. That part was challenged in court on Freedom of the Press grounds.
This was passed in an attempt to head off the movement to outlaw the death penalty in Minnesota. Executions were frequently botched, with the prisoner taking a long time to die. So those in favor of executions felt that if they were done in secret, there would be less objection. It didn’t work, Minnesota abolished the death penalty in 1911. (But it’s possible that the law abolishing the death penalty also repealed the restrictions on public daylight executions, so this might not apply any more.)
*Corrupt sheriffs then sold hundreds of tickets making the bearer an ‘official witness’ to the execution. Some made a lot of money from this.
That would be rich-can’t show Janet Jackson’s boob, but you can show an execution?
Might it not fall under the ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ clause of the Constitution, in that showing a prisoner’s execution to a large audience could be considered cruelty?
Aren’t there already some internet sites that broadcast executions live?
Local executions are always public, but are never televised. That seems like a good compromise to me.