They Show Cho Seung-Hui On TV But Not Streakers
VIRGINIA Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui gets lots of airtime on NBC, the BBC, Sky and more.
But one emailer on Salon asks “if NBC, when it broadcast baseball games, refused to show video of fans running onto the field. Most broadcasters don’t, on the grounds that it would only encourage more attention-seeking disruptions. … If that’s NBC’s practice, why is it OK in order to prevent the disruption of a baseball game but not to prevent mass murder?”
The BBC refuses to show streakers and pitch invaders. But you can see a ranting mass murderer. Why?
Don Surber writes: “NBC should not have shown it. This video was a peep show, not news. There was nothing to be gained in showing it.
And Howard Kurtz writes: “In all the years I’ve been chronicling the media, I have rarely seen the tidal wave of resentment that has washed over television organizations that showed the now-infamous Cho video. In the minds of many Americans, this was a horribly offensive act, and no amount of explanation about the obligations of journalism is going to change that view.
Should it have been broadcast?
Posted: 20th, April 2007 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
