Sorry, sir, but it's too late for that. The confessed killer of 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing sought a big audience for his big exit and he will have it. Even if it is not televised, as McVeigh has requested, this execution is big news. The media are obliged to cover it. Media are supposed to cover their government in action, and government takes few actions that are more worthy of public scrutiny than this one.
Hard cases make bad law.
So goes an old legal slogan. Sometimes easy cases do, too. Unfortunately, McVeigh's case makes it too easy for many of us to make snap judgments about capital punishment and how it should be covered. If ever there were a poster child for executions, McVeigh is it. There's no doubt that he's guilty.