lightning rod

lightning rodは避雷針のことですが（英国 lightning conductor）、ここは違う意味合いで使われているようです。Minnesotaくん、どうぞ。（UG）

Sex, lives and videotape: When to publish, when not...

Atlanta (CNN) -- The topless duchess, the dying diplomat, cartoons of the Prophet and photographs of a secretive filmmaker. News coverage of all four has been a lightning rod for the debate about privacy, decency, tolerance, the right to publish and self-restraint.

Several media organizations came under fire for publishing a graphic photograph of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, as he was pulled from the burnt-out wreckage of the consulate in Benghazi, apparently unconscious and covered in soot. The New York Times rejected a request from the U.S. State Department to remove the photograph from its website.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/26/world/media-photos-videotape/index.html?hpt=hp_c1