What Has This World Come To?

This week has been a little overwhelming, and not for the reasons most would say. For me, it has overwhelmed me at the current state of our the media. I have been rolling these thoughts over in my head for a few years now, and this week has put a final stamp on something that disturbs me greatly.

I have always been told, "Don't believe everything you hear on the radio or see on the TV, or now, read on the internet", but today I think it goes further than that. The tragedy that impacted those at Va. Tech this week struck too close to home, as I work on a college campus. And I will admit, I, too, thought about how we would handle something like this. However, what is rubbing me the wrong way is the nature of how the media has reacted to the whole situation.

I was actually at home sick on Monday so I fell into the trap of watching the 'Breaking News' coverage all day. It wasn't 3 hours removed from the event that media personalities were trying to lead those they interviewed into the trap of saying someone was to blame, other than the disturbed shooter. I don't know how many times questions were asked to random students along the lines of, "Would you have done things differently if you got the email earlier?" or "Don't you wish the campus would have been locked down sooner, if at all?" Again, THREE hours after the events, before the victims were even out of the classrooms, these were the questions. Funny enough the students and faculty/staff didn't walk headlong into the trap, as many of them responded with something like, "I think it was handled pretty well."

Next there was some media and many parents calling for the president and chief of police at Va. Tech to step down. Again, that wasn't today at the end of a week, that was Monday afternoon! Why are we so quick to find blame these days. The media has many times been accused of being vultures, well I contend they are glorified ambulance chasers. Sadly enough many of the reasons for this are that our society is so enamored with sensationalism, that is what sells.

The final blow came Wednesday, when NBC aired the mulitmedia materials of the killer. This really concerned me then, and more now because they, in their attempt to provide the public with their "need to know" glorified this killer and gave him exactly what he wanted! A world-wide forum for his actions. This same network will not show a streaker running across a baseball, football, or soccer field as not to glorify those actions, but it will air the rants of a killer. All in the name of the news! The media needs a gut check. How about reporting for good ole reporting sake, and not playing to the almighty dollar or sensationalizing the stories. How about some sensitivity instead of the bottom line. How about trying to at least seem unbiased, like they were in the old days, even though there is always a slant.

I was alway taught to take a step back and think before making decisions. It is interesting now how many media outlets are not showing the video anymore, because time and criticism have shown how idiotic that decision was in the first place, all because of the scoop! It was a sad day on Monday for reasons that should have directly surrounded those hurting across the nation. The media made it much worse and continues to do so.