Television coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings, The Tipping Point and numbness

Because we are still figuring out how to use the new DVR that came with our new satellite dish, we have missed many of the TV shows we wanted recorded. So last night we were stuck with a selection from the major networks of more coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings.

No doubt, this is an important and tragic story and it should be covered by the press.  However, I learned more about the actual news updates of the story in the 5 or 10 minutes at the top of the local news here at 11 pm than I did in an hour of switching between the major network shows at 10 pm.

These major network shows were painful to watch. And you would think it was the horror of the shootings themselves that made it painful. But no, it was the self importance of these shows, it was the drawing out to fit an hour format -- full of dramatic pauses, it was the sensationalism.  As David pointed out, it was the soundtrack added as an audio backdrop to a news story that really didn't need any of these things.

At least two of these news shows did a segment on the gun shop that sold the gun to the student, interviewing the owner about the procedures, and how this particular sale was unremarkable, and what he thought about gun laws.  (As if we all didn't know the answer to what the guy shop owner thinks of gun laws.)

At least one of the shows did a segment on campus security around the country and how lax it is. (It lamented that the campus did not yet have its campus wide cell phone text message broadcast system up yet.  Forgive me, but I'm finding it remarkable that the campus was actually going to put in such a system. Apparently Penn State has such a system in place, but it seems pretty cutting edge to me, i.e. something that is likely being implemented in a variety of places but just isn't there yet.)

Another segment was with a security expert about what the students at Norris Hall SHOULD HAVE DONE. (shove their belts under the doors to keep the doors closed.)  I know that was the first thing that would spring to my mind when someone started shooting at me.  And when we are focusing on reducing the risks of everyday life, I wonder, should we focus on "what to do when a gunman bursts into a university classroom building" or should we perhaps focus on car safety which applies to so many more people and has the potential to save many more lives (i.e. Princess Diana and the governor of NJ who knew better than to not wear their seatbelts.) 

Indeed, all these prime time network shows on the Virginia Tech tragedy had their so-called experts lined up to espouse their anecdotal opinions about how the shootings might have been prevented, leaving a sort of pregnant pause of blame directed at I-don't-know-where about why we didn't already know and do all these things.

And EVERY news show had to have their own top network talent invading this already traumatized college campus, peppering students with questions about the massacre and then thanking them for their bravery and for answering a bunch of redundant questions (to stretch out the footage and make sure it filled an hour-long show). What has happened to the news?

The "best" segments I've seen so far in terms of interest and news have been the news updates on the story provided by our local news program (where they actually provided some information about the shooter, something absent from last night's network marathon, or at  least the parts I saw), and a segment on this morning's news that featured an interview with a girl who had attended Columbine and was present for the shooting there in 1999 and now was a student at Virginia Tech.

But really, the most surprising thing about my reaction to this news coverage to me was how numb I have become to it.  When Columbine happened it was absolutely shocking.  And now it's not as much of a surprise when such a thing happens. It is horrible, it is tragic, I am beside myself with grief for the parents and families of those students.  But amid the growth of such episodes of violence, together with the endless sensational news coverage of them, I have grown more numb to the news.

Coincidentally, I had reached the end of The Tipping Point on Monday, the day of the Virginia Tech shooting, and was reading the Afterward section on Monday night -- something the author had written after the book had been widely read and then added to subsequent editions of the book.

It mentioned the epidemic of teen violence in the United States, starting with the Columbine tragedy in Colorado in 1999. It compares that incident and the incidents of teen violence that followed with the rise of teen suicide in a remote island community somewhere. The island had not seen a suicide in decades. But then one teen, caught in a love triangle, killed himself and all the sudden the frequency of teen suicide increased tremendously. The idea of using suicide as a means of communicating a statement to the world was born among the teens in the community. The author also quotes one of the survivors of such a suicide attempt saying that he didn't really want to die, he just wanted to experience a hanging. 

The author also mentions that today's teens, in a world of instant messaging, video games, etc. are more isolated from parental voices than they have been in previous generations.

In a bright moment during one of last night's prime time news specials one guy (sorry didn't keep track of who everyone was) talked about Australia's epidemic of shootings and violence and how more stringent gun laws were put in place and the rate of such violence had fallen.

But, as the owner of the gun shop where the Virginia Tech shooter bought his primary weapon pointed out, if he was determined to kill people, he would have done it anyway.  However, without the gun that number may not have gotten to 33 in the course of minutes. I think it's probably harder to knife that many people in a short amount of time.

If teens and young adults are using guns and other artillery as a way to express a statement, maybe we should take away the guns and give them some different tools.  And maybe we should pay attention to them when they initially try to deliver the message.

Comments

[jj]

yup. i agree. i made the same type of observation to whoever would listen. i was stuck at home getting it and it was worse when they knew nothing and spent hours upon hours speculating.

thank God, I was able to turn it off for a day finally, after Geraldo came off with his uber-sensationalist fluff, and almost made me puke...or throw the remote at the tv. which would not have been good and my have cost us a perfectly good tv. LOL!

[Eva]

Yes, I too hate modern media coverage. Also, that bad things happen. I just want to hold my baby close and protect her forever.

[Aurelia]

I never watch those network news shows. Drives me nuts...I'd lose my mind without my DVR to save me from those nights!

Interestingly enough, there are cheap and widely available text messaging broadcast services now. We used them during the leadership campaign to send them to people's cellphones on the convention floor. That was about 10,000 people. We did it on the fly. But I've noticed that large organizations like this, tend to overthink these things and make it more complicated than it has to be.