First, my prayers and thoughts go out to the entire Blacksburg community on this terrible day.
As a wannabe journalist, I wanted to post a few comments about the media coverage I have been watching since about 1:00 this afternoon. At times, it has been agonizingly slow in getting information. There was about an hour where the local Fox affiliate was reporting 32 fatalities while CNN was reporting 22. Not once in that hour did CNN even address the possibility that more people had been killed. Also, the press conferences have not shed much light on the situation, but that is understandable considering the ongoing investigation. However, after watching a number of similar news conferences in my lifetime, it would be nice if the assembled media could learn that "I cannot comment on that at this time" means that the speaker will not be commenting on that at this time no matter how you try to phrase the question.
Of greater frustration has been the rush to judgment by the media on how the university handled the events of the day. With hindsight, I am sure the university and campus police wish they would have done things differently. But the crucial question to answer is what did they know and at what time? The first incident was reported via a 911 call at 7:15am. Police arrived, secured the building, and began interviewing witnesses. From the few details the police chief has unveiled at the press conferences, you can glean a scenario that may have played out: Witnesses told police that John Doe was responsible for the shootings. They tracked him down as a "person of interest." While they were interviewing him, reports came in of the second shooting site.
I sometimes wonder if the media weighs the need for public information versus the threat of mass hysteria. With 9000 students on campus, thousands of other students commuting onto campus, and thousands of employees either on campus or en route, what was the best course of action to ensure their safety? Do you lock down a campus when you believe you may have the person responsible in for questioning? I am sure people would be second-guessing if campus police caused panic and the first incident turned out to be just an isolated event? I just do not understand the need to so quickly assess blame for an act so despicable that it is beyond our imagination.
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One man's reflections on the sports world, including fantasy sports and sports commentary.
1 comment:
It's one of those cases where every news agency wants to be the FIRST to deliver some new piece of information to the masses. This has been around since William Randolph Hurst's scandal-mongering and sensationalism. Media outlets are less worried about reporting something incorrectly, than being beaten to a scoop. (You can always submit a retraction if you jumped the gun on a story, but only one reporter gets to be the first to break a story.)
There's a fine line to be walked in a situation like this, or Columbine or 9/11. You want to get the information out, because this is a story that's going to have an emotional impact on the country (the world even...as interntaional media are running with this story) but you don't want to play it up too much, just for ratings.
This didn't need a catch-phrase...but it got one, "Massacre at Virginia Tech...complete with theme music and a flash annimation banner on the screen.
In my opinion, the LAST thing the VT community needs is a bunch of remote feed trucks lined up across their campus, using their grief and healing as a ratings boost.
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