Alexandra Zapruder, granddaughter of Abraham Zapruder, is coming to Houston this week to discuss her book “From Camera Lens to Conspiracies: What Zapruder Saw Then to What the World Sees Now.”

While the “Zapruder Film” has been discussed and dissected ad nauseam, reading about the book’s premise reminded me how much the world has changed in regards to how news is covered. Just imagine for a moment if the JFK assassination occurred today. There would hundreds of spectators with smart phones taking photos, shooting videos, steaming live to Facebook, all to be posted on social media.

Back in 1963, Zapruder protected his film by entrusting it to the U.S. Secret Service. He later sold the rights to Life magazine whose editors carefully protected their investment. Eventually, the images were stolen and used by several famous and not so famous media outlets.

Today, television stations routinely encourage viewers to record breaking news when they see it (one station even reminds viewers to turn the phone sideways before you start recording). Now we get to enjoy watching passengers being dragged down the aisle of a United Airline jet to “voluntarily” give up their seat, or road rage fights.

It appears from the excerpts of the book, Zapruder was very calculating when it came to what should be done with his infamous 26 second film. The frames are horrific and capture a dark day in our nation’s past. One can see this was not an easy decision for him to make.

Does the public have the right to see it? Is forcing the Kennedy family live with those images forever fair to them? Did we learn anything more about the assassination by seeing the film then before?

Much has indeed changed in the last 54 years.