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On The Media…
People have complained that the media went a little overboard showing photos, video and transcripts from the Virginia Tech shootings. The most controversial has been the decision of NBC to show some of the video that the shooter sent to them. They’ve been criticized as insensitive by the familes of the victims, and by other media outlets for airing the videos in a loop, over and over.
I have a couple of thoughts on this. First, there’s the “scoop” factor that every news organization lives for. The package of video files, photos and a written “manifesto” were sent to NBC news headquarters, giving them the “scoop” factor. Any news organization that’s handed something that’s relevant to an ongoing news story before any other news organization is going to air the contents of the package. Newspapers have done this for ages when they’ve been chosen to publish “manifestos”. And, although I think all of the news organizations go overboard with their looping of the footage, I think it’s relevent news. If you don’t want to watch it, you can turn your TV off.
Second, immediately after NBC aired the footage, the other networks quickly recorded NBC’s broadcasts and began airing the footage on their own. And I believe it was these same networks that began the “backlash” against NBC for airing the video’s, not because they were concerned for the victims, but because they package wasn’t dropped off on their own doorsteps. Sour grapes. They were unhappy that they had to continue to show footage with NBC News logo attached to it.
Third, there are folks that say that by showing this type of footage, you’re playing into the killer’s hands—giving him what he wanted. Here’s the problem with that. He’s dead. I could see how it might give him some kind of gratification if he was still alive sitting in a cell, able to watch the story unfold. But this guy is dead. He’ll never know if they showed his tapes, photos or writings, because he blew his face off.
There are other folks that say that the footage should never be shown to anyone, because it has no value. Again, I disagree, because I feel that the most important part of the story is to try and understand what caused him to do this. Sure, maybe he was just a nutball, but maybe, just maybe, there was something else. Maybe there were signs. Maybe it stems from the constant ridicule and harrassment he received in high school. Maybe it was a relationship gone bad. Whatever the case, his final writings may have had some clues. The videos and photos, although questionable to show on television, help people put a face to the name. It’s easy to attach a name like “Virginia Tech Killer” to someone, but it’s another thing to see that he was just some normal, unhappy kid in college. It could be the kid sitting right next to you.
Certainly the media goes overboard when it comes to reporting news stories. There’s a fine line between informing the public about what happened and respecting their time to grieve. Most news organizations cross that line immediately. I find that the cable networks tend to be the worst, with their looping footage and talking heads to fill time until the next news conference or piece of news hits their desk.
But the reason news exists is because people want to know. They want to know what’s going on and some want all of the gory details. It’s just human nature.
I tend to watch very little television news and instead pick up the headlines on the ‘net. I read as much as I want, when I want and can close the browser when I’ve had too much. Unfortunately, it’s easy to get saturated with the horrible things that go on in our world and it’s up to each individual to figure out their limit. And turn off the TV when it gets to be too much.
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2007 at 11:17 am and is filed under Entries, Opinions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.