Irresponsible VT news coverage
April 18, 2007
By Dave Petteys (dpetteys@comcast.net)
It’s unseemly to be holding candle light vigils and to be squabbling over memorials even before the bodies are cold, to say nothing of the tedious 24 hour TV news coverage. But the most outrageous is the national airing of the demented killer’s diatribe!
It is a fact that in sports TV, cameras will NOT cover a streaker should one jump out and dash across a basketball court or baseball field. Why? To discourage others from following suit! Should not this common sense precept be applied to VA Tech style situations as well? The message the media is sending: “if you want your views broadcast nationwide, all you have to do is make a video tape last will and testament and create mayhem!” The killer did follow the publicized Hamas example to a tee.
If the Columbine count was around 15 and the VA Tech count was around 30, does this mean that the next number in the series needs to be 60 in order to get on TV news?
Freedom of speech does have a dimension of responsibility, something the media has apparently cast aside for expediency.
The author can be reached at John@BackBoneAmerica.net
SHAME ON NBC
By Kurtoverturf@wmconnect.com
The repeated and repeated playing of the Virginia Tech killer’s necrology by NBC is obviously a ratings-driven choice; the end result of which is a Pandora’s box of inestimable danger. What possible good can come of NBC immersing itself – and the rest of us ad-nausium – in the delusional necrology of a murdering hermit? Such broadcasting may garner a spike in ratings for NBC – if that is ‘good’. More likely, NBC’s endless loop for the killer’s benefit will strew a viral pathogen of encouragement to one or more crazed individuals waiting for just such a ‘signal’. They’ve got it, thanks, NBC. And if another lamenting outcast luckily happened to miss the weapons brandishing, cursing, and religious loathing of mankind, NBC will oblige and revisit it like an addict, with some probability of triggering copycat behavior. If new blood spills, we know NBC is guilty. Register my formal complaint and new sprung animus toward NBC and their stupid, stupid management.
by John Andrews | Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 | 8:41 pm