I would just like to thank the media sooo much...... - Freeze-Frame Radio

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

I would just like to thank the media sooo much......

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

I SOOOO agree with you JD.

NBC should have just handed the stuff over to the FBI and kept it quiet. But nooooooooo, what really matters is ratings!

All it takes now is one more person with a sick mind to be sitting there watching this and seeing the pictures of this guy with his guns drawn, pointing the barrell of the pistol right at the camera, and thinking "Oh, that is so cool".

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Woo Hoo · The Chosen Woo

oh ridiculous coverage!! They could have just reported that they received a tape from him. But to keep airing it, is just sick!!

ghostdancer · Ghost In The Machine

Yeah, what he ^ said!!! It's all about the ratings with no thought given to who is watching their "news reports". I can just see some other warped person out there watching this crap and thinking to himself "that is so f***ing cool!!" Sometimes the news media have their heads stuck up their butts!!! Why give this individual his 15 minutes of fame?? It doesn't help anyone. I hope the parents of the dead and wounded students aren't watching this crap.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

This whole thing has mad me mad from a different perspective. This is no longer a news story, it has been drug out into sensationalism. Don't get me wrong, what happened at VT was sad and horrific. But, the world is sad and horrific. There's more news, more tragedy in the world than what happened last Monday.

Yesterday, bombs in Iraq killed 183 people. Nationwide, the death toll for Iraq yesterday was 233, the second highest casualty rate since the war began.

The World Health Organization has reported that last year, 70,000 people in Darfur died in a 7 month span from malnutrition and disease. That doesn't even include the casualties from the widespread violence.

My point is, VT is no longer news. I'm all for providing support for families who lost loved ones, but at this point, continuing to report on this story is only a form of entertainment.

-- Edited by MzHartz at 08:51, 2007-04-19

Ultimo · King of the Ring

MzHartz wrote:

This whole thing has mad me mad from a different perspective. This is no longer a news story, it has been drug out into sensationalism. Don't get me wrong, what happened at VT was sad and horrific. But, the world is sad and horrific. There's more news, more tragedy in the world than what happened last Monday.

Yesterday, bombs in Iraq killed 183 people. Nationwide, the death toll for Iraq yesterday was 233, the second highest casualty rate since the war began.

The World Health Organization has reported that last year, 70,000 people in Darfur died in a 7 month span from malnutrition and disease. That doesn't even include the casualties from the widespread violence.

My point is, VT is no longer news. I'm all for providing support for families who lost loved ones, but at this point, continuing to report on this story is only a form of entertainment.

-- Edited by MzHartz at 08:51, 2007-04-19

I wanted to make this exact same point Mz but didn't due to fears of upsetting people. So thank you Mz for bring the point up. I agree totally.

-- Edited by Ultimo at 09:02, 2007-04-19

disco strangler · Smiles everyone, smiles!

yes, my 14 year old and i were talking about exactly the same thing last night, mz! the media turns tragedy into entertainment! it is pathetic and disgusting. and how long will they continue to shove it down our throats?! furious

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

MzHartz wrote:

This whole thing has mad me mad from a different perspective. This is no longer a news story, it has been drug out into sensationalism. Don't get me wrong, what happened at VT was sad and horrific. But, the world is sad and horrific. There's more news, more tragedy in the world than what happened last Monday.

Yesterday, bombs in Iraq killed 183 people. Nationwide, the death toll for Iraq yesterday was 233, the second highest casualty rate since the war began.

The World Health Organization has reported that last year, 70,000 people in Darfur died in a 7 month span from malnutrition and disease. That doesn't even include the casualties from the widespread violence.

My point is, VT is no longer news. I'm all for providing support for families who lost loved ones, but at this point, continuing to report on this story is only a form of entertainment.

-- Edited by MzHartz at 08:51, 2007-04-19

Taking another angle but keeping in line with MZ's thinking. This thought occured to me the day after the shooting.

Every year in the US roughly 30,000 people die from gunshots (Milwaukee alone usually supplies 1% of that total).

That means every single day 82 people in this country are massacred. Where's the REAL outrage over that?

I'm not for banning guns. I'm not trying to minimize what happened at VT, it makes me sick to my stomach.

My only point is that it get's excessive coverage because it's flashy. While people dying in the street every day isn't.

There's also a very VALID reason it gets excessive coverage too though. These were 32 ambitious young people were snuffed out at the very start of their adulthood and through absolutely no fault of their own.

VT is a major college. Who knows what the world lost as a result of this shooting. Politicians, Doctors, etc. The loss Monday may be greatet than we'll even realize.

garougal · Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult

It horrifies me most of all that they continue to allow the killer's video footage to be accessed and make it "front page news." What is the value of doing this? It feeds into exactly what this sadly violent guy wanted - to give his message to the world. The footage only feeds morbid curiosity, it does not add valuable information that society can use to prevent such situations from recurring or help heal the wrong that has been done.

I don't mind the coverage that helps depict the plight of those affected by this horrible event - many people of this nation want to support them and understand their feelings and experiences. But why give attention to this man who, in his arrogance and self-righteousness, gave himself the right to take lives? He complains of the sufferings he has experienced. Well Boo Freakin' Hoo. It doesn't seem to me his life was so bad. He had a comfortable home, good clothes on his back, a full belly, an education, and so much more. Way more than many, many people even hope to have in this life. I don't deny he may have had his sufferings. But under no circumstances did anything in his life give him the justification to steal life from anyone at all. The thought that the media turns its eye constantly on the sickness and arrogance of this man saddens me. It is those lost and those impacted by these events who deserve our full attention.

And with that, and to Mz's and Rigg's point, there's a world of sorrows that deserves our attention, empathy, and action. I remember only a year or two ago driving to work and seeing so many memorials to the murdered along the way. People gunned down on the street remembered with stuffed animals, pictures, and flowers tethered to streetlight poles. Have the massacres desensitized us to the tragedies occurring everyday? Oh I really hope not - I hope it is merely the folly of the media and not a reflection of our social attitudes.