What It's Like To Be A Reporter At An Execution

In the wake of the controversy over Oklahoma's disturbingly botched execution of Clayton Lockett last week, CNN's Brian Stelter spoke to two reporters who have had experience witnessing prisoners being killed.

One of them, Matt Trotter, witnessed Lockett's execution for Oklahoma Public Radio. He told Stelter it was the first execution he had ever seen in person:

"To me, it was that extension of my duty as a reporter—it's a very extreme extension of it, but this is something I felt obligated to do. But that still doesn't quite prepare you for actually being there and watching it, especially when you see it starting to go wrong, and you hit that point during the execution where you and the rest of the media witnesses in the room are able to exchange quick glances with the people next to you and just go, oh, wow, this is really going wrong."

The other reporter, Greg Bluestein, said he had covered ten executions for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He told Stelter that he thought the government should allow executions to be televised:

"I think if the government does take that ultimate step that the public should see it. It is jarring and it's not something that I would let my two young daughters ever want them to see, but it is something that I feel the public should know, especially given the number of executions that don't get the type of media attention that Matt is talking about."

Watch the full segment above.