The AP’s David Bauder writes about the Hussein coverage last night. Sorry for the spam heavy Forbes link. It’s a royal pita…

“Everyone was anticipating we would have a difficult decision to make,” said David Rhodes, Fox vice president of news. “But when you consider what we and everyone else saw coming in, the pictures were fairly dramatic, but there was nothing we had to do” before televising it, he said.

Fox ran side-by-side pictures of Saddam, one a file photo labeled “Alive” and the other a blurry still photo after the execution marked “Dead.”

Anderson Cooper repeatedly told CNN viewers after the execution was announced late Friday that video was expected soon and the network would be “very judicious” in how it was presented.

However, “there haven’t been any tough decisions yet,” CNN spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg said Saturday.

NBC News, both on the Saturday “Today” show and on the MSNBC cable channel until about midday, aired only video taken before Saddam was hanged. NBC News President Steve Capus then approved the use of one still photo of Saddam’s body.

“I didn’t want them to rush into it,” Capus said. “I wanted them to be cautious. I didn’t think there was anything to be gained by being first with the pictures of the body.”