Professional discussion of coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings

It's a shame that this little bastard killed himself -- if that's what happened. He got off much, much too easy.

 

What I remember about Columbine was high school kids being interviewed live on TV the night of the shooting. My thought was, what parent in their right mind lets their kid do that?

 

MSNBC anchor just thanked a student for telling his story. She said she "was almost speechless" during his narrative. It's a shame she wasn't completely speechless after it.

I know this must be tough, but some of the people covering this as it happens are clearly unprepared for tragic breaking news. I'm guessing there is very little training for dealing with such stories with the proper tone, or maybe you can train all you want, but when it happens, you grasp for the right things to say.

This is what you get, I suppose, in the rush to be first, or at least not "behind."

Oh, and Willie, please stay on topic. If you want to talk about something other than the coverage, please go back to Sports and News.

 

CNN said the police are investigating whether or not he killed himself.

 

how do you prepare a news anchor for this kind of breaking news? Is that possible?

 

I don't know. I'd be interested in hearing from someone in TV when things slow down. Like I said, I know it can't be easy.

 

They have local reporters, producers screening them about what they saw, maybe using comments for their own stories and then patch them on through for the national broadcast.

It's interesting that just about every news story I've read ... AP, NYT, Roanoke ... is using quotes from students quoted by CNN (probably taking them off the broadcast). That's not unusual, and smart, actually. The reporters on scene are doing their own interviews now and will have loads of stuff TV won't have tomorrow. That's how you stay relevant.

 

Every time one of these shootings happened, I'm reminded of why I couldn't work on newsside. It's much too upsetting, and I turn into a giant wreck and am worthless.

 

CNN said a 911 call alerted police to the first shooting at 7:15. Yet this kid was able to walk across campus, waste two hours and kill again. Unbelieveable.

 

I think TV should send its reporters and anchors to an improv class. I know it sounds silly but it's what I would do because I wouldn't do any better in front of a TV camera... but these people definitely need to learn how to think on their feet ...

 

But it's an amazing adrenaline rush ...

 

Apparently there was an audible gasp from the reporters at the press conference and in the Roanoke CBS affiliate's newsroom when it was announced that at least 20 people had died. Up to that point, it had been one dead and seven to nine injured; a tragedy, but not a national story. When the spokesperson said 20, that changed everything, and the reaction showed it.