Virginia Tech Shooting

[Andrew Longman]

Like I said, most, but not all (99.9 percent, I'd guess) reporters hate covering stories like this. They do it because it's their job. These people, the friends and family members of the victims, have a story to tell. And that's what reporters do, tell stories.

That's my experience too, but I seen a marked difference between print and TV reporters and reporting. The farther out the deadline the better as well.

[Insomniac]

That's my experience too, but I seen a marked difference between print and TV reporters and reporting. The farther out the deadline the better as well.

Can you even call news on TV news anymore (for the most part)? There is almost always commentary/opinion about every topic. There are so many talking heads always spinning things one way or another providing opinions, not facts.

I was disappointed when Al Gore (and his group) bought NWI and turned it into Current TV. That was one place I enjoyed watching the news. Fortunately, there are still newspapers and the Internet.

[rabbit]

That's my experience too, but I seen a marked difference between print and TV reporters and reporting. The farther out the deadline the better as well.TV guys suck.

[Andrew Longman]

Can you even call news on TV news anymore (for the most part)? There is almost always commentary/opinion about every topic. There are so many talking heads always spinning things one way or another providing opinions, not facts.

I was disappointed when Al Gore (and his group) bought NWI and turned it into Current TV. That was one place I enjoyed watching the news. Fortunately, there are still newspapers and the Internet.

Mostly TV news, especially the cable news, is speculation upon speculation.

But its a matter of the form the media takes than anything else. First, it is a 24 hour machine that must be fed. Once you''ve said that Anna Nichole Smith is dead and the cause of death will be unknown until an autopsy is performed or toxicology is back, what do you say? How do you fill up the time? What about the new viewers just tuning in?

What would be a couple of inches or columns of type on the newspaper gets rehashed into a parade of so called experts and friends or friends offering their perspective or speculation about the story.

Plus, what would have been run by an editor and fact checker at any newspaper is crafted and broadcast live or very nearly live 24 hours a day. It makes for crap.

I read two newspapers a day, a local news weekly and a weekly news magazine and I find I am plenty fully informed without ever watching TV news.

[devilmaster]

Media outlets regardless of the type have always had their own editorial slants.

Thats why most major cities have had multiple newspapers, because each of them have their own way of looking at things, matched to some spot on the political spectrum.

[Ankf00]

Thats why most major cities have had multiple newspapers, because each of them have their own way of looking at things, matched to some spot on the political spectrum.

Except that in the US, in the past 10 years laws have been repealed and companies are now allowed to buy up all the media outlets they wish, thereby restricting the number of viewpoints and even stories people are exposed to

[Andrew Longman]

True, but most cities are now down to one daily paper and the papers that remain have been beaten down by Wall Street and the bean counters that they routinely can't do basic reporting on even local news. Look at most any paper and you'll porobably see the bulk of local coverage is supplied by AP. The Trenton Times reporting of the State House up the street is purchased from AP.

Even the big papers like the NYT are being forced to close many bureaus all over the world. They are picking stuff off the net like the rest of us schmucks.

[FCYTravis]

Like I said, most, but not all (99.9 percent, I'd guess) reporters hate covering stories like this. They do it because it's their job.
Yep.

Last year, I was involved in a project in which we told the stories of four of our college's students who were killed in acts of violence within a single year. All of it was senseless stupidity - a pizza delivery guy gunned down for $40 and three pizzas, a kid who was mistaken for a gangbanger, a man beaten to death over a car sale gone bad and one kid shot because he had the wrong "colors." For essentially no reason at all, four young people were cut down. We decided to find out who they were.

It was a very difficult project to do, and I will admit to shedding tears on the phone. We talked to their families, friends and co-workers - some didn't want to talk, and we respected that. As rabbit said, on the other hand some were - well, pleased is not the right word here obviously, but they wanted to talk to us, because they wanted their loved one's memory to be honored.

Why did we do this 6-page "Stop The Violence" package? Because these four people weren't numbers - numbers don't mean anything anymore. We're numb to statistics. These students had lives and stories, and those stories deserved to be told. They deserved to be remembered as something other than one more homicide in a place that had more than 50 last year.

One victim in particular sticks in my mind... Darren Kretchmar. He was a VW nut, and drove a tricked-out GTI. His friends in the local VW community and online (I think at VWVortex) finished building up his car as a memorial, and then drove it across the country, stopping at VW club meets and car shows around the US to spread a message of peace. We told that story.

Are they easy stories to tell? No. Do reporters relish talking to people whose families and friendships have been shattered by violence? Hell no. But it is, ultimately, part of our human story. We can choose to ignore it or we can confront it head-on, and in so doing, demand change.

I'm under no illusions that what we write at a little college 2,500-circulation weekly can do much in a world filled with guns, drugs and nutjobs. But, damnit, we have to try.

[nrc]

So the sick **** sends a package with videos, etc. to NBC b/w the shooting incidents. :saywhat: Restating the obvious, but this was one sick mother ****er. :mad:

-Kevin

A psychologist calls airing the tapes a "social catastrophe". I agree, this kid idolized the Columbine killers thanks in part to the platform the media gave them. Now someone is bound to empathize with this kid as well.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/VATech/story?id=3056168

[Insomniac]

Mostly TV news, especially the cable news, is speculation upon speculation.

But its a matter of the form the media takes than anything else. First, it is a 24 hour machine that must be fed. Once you''ve said that Anna Nichole Smith is dead and the cause of death will be unknown until an autopsy is performed or toxicology is back, what do you say? How do you fill up the time? What about the new viewers just tuning in?

What would be a couple of inches or columns of type on the newspaper gets rehashed into a parade of so called experts and friends or friends offering their perspective or speculation about the story.

Plus, what would have been run by an editor and fact checker at any newspaper is crafted and broadcast live or very nearly live 24 hours a day. It makes for crap.

I read two newspapers a day, a local news weekly and a weekly news magazine and I find I am plenty fully informed without ever watching TV news.

All the stuff they show brings in the ratings, so it's doing what they want and giving people what they want. I remember when Headline News just ran the news 24/7, every 30 minutes starting over. Sure, no one would watch for hours, but it provided the news.

I think most people can see the biases in commentary/discussions, but it's harder to see in reporting. At the same time, the bias in reporting is low. The real bias is in the stories they maybe choose not to cover.

[Ankf00]

The Virginia Tech Alumni Association invites the country to wear burnt orange and maroon on Friday, April 20, as a sign of compassion and concern for the Virginia Tech University community. They ask that everyone wear the Virginia Tech school colors on that day to honor those killed during the shootings and to show support for the students, faculty, administrators, staff, alumni, and friends of the Blacksburg, Va., school following Monday’s tragedy.


http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g10/NatChampUT/DSC03747.jpg