Those reporters are performing an urgently needed public service by describing for the public how barbaric the executions can become.

By coincidence Alabama is resuming its death-row executions today after a months-long pause. It had had botched several in a row--it wasn't able to kill the inmates after hours of torture--and needed to "review" the process.

Few enough states still do executions (let alone keep bungling them as Alabama has) that this is a national story you may hear about in British media with U.S. correspondents. I'm so grateful to the Guardian and others that are still willing to send their reporters down here to cover things like this, as they sometimes do.