Journalism is important. Without it, people would not be better off. However, with the power to educate comes the responsibility to do so honestly and without sensationalizing the story at the expense of it's audience.
I am speaking of the Virginia Tech shootings. As I'm sure everyone is aware of, the murderer sent a tape to the media on his way to shoot more people on the other side of campus. The media has since played the clip over and over again as if it were 9/11 footage. Let's set aside the fact that it is disrespectful to the families involved. I want to talk about the fact that now there are schools dealing with kids trying to emulate what they have seen. My high school had a scare this week and the majority of parents kept their children home. You cannot tell me it wasn't a direct result of the media coverage. It happens every time the media makes a school shooting the top story.
Sadly, school shootings are a reality. Now our kids will have fire drills, tornado drills, Nuclear Power Plant drills, and crazy murdering psychopath drills. The middle school I went to had a shooting back in November of 1994. Five people were shot (no children). The only casualty was Mr. Christopher (my father-in-laws cousin). He had been the custodian there for as long as I could remember. He was killed when he confronted the gunman. My old shop teacher, Mr. Grimm, was shot and critically wounded. The vice principal and a police officer were also shot as well as the gunman. This happened in my home town, in the halls my husband and I walked down as kids.
I don't know how this trend came to be, but I do know that the media has helped promote it. They use it for ratings and claim it is for the greater good.
I am both angry and frustrated.
No comments:
Post a Comment