Va Tech Shooter sends "images, letter" to NBC

playthrough · Apr 19, 2007

Fenian_Bastard said:

JackS said:

21 said:

jgmac & jack--This is the story. Who, what, where, when......why. This is the why.

It's horrible, terrifying, sickening....but it's the story. No one has to watch it. I can't imagine why or how any of the families can go anywhere near a TV right now...the gunshot audio, do you think they hear that and wonder if that's the shot that killed their child? Would there be any less intense analysis of the killer without his picture?
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If only it was as simple as you or I or a victim's family deciding not to watch it. That's not the problem. The problem is the next Cho watching it and getting off at the prospect of equal time.

I think that overrides any need for answering the "why" of this story. You think that by your now knowing that this guy hated "rich" people and their attitude that you can prevent the next jagoff from doing this?

I think not.
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Now, an endless loop on 24-hour cable is another deal.
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That sentence is the kicker to me. Are we angry that these videos/pictures ran at all, or just angry that CNN/FOX/MSNBC has to run them over and over again to feed the beast?

I thought NBC and Brian Williams handled it well last night, and I trusted that within that half-hour broadcast I'd get the gist of what made this murderer nuts. I did not need to "tune in tomorrow to TODAY" or watch MSNBC for more clips.

Simon_Cowbell · Apr 19, 2007

Rough Mix said:

Most rational people can look that this material and see how twisted he was, but what worries me is that he speaks in a voice that others out there understand and find common ground with.

By airing this the killer is being given the power to still control the situation and inflict further damage. In his ramblings he compares himself to Jesus and wants to be seen as an 'example' to others he feels are in whatever situation he imagined himself in. NBC is giving him exactly what he wanted. Does he deserve that?

He mentions the Columbine killers and calls them "martyrs."
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And that imagery of Harris and Kliebold.... comes from television airing their target practice and manifesto comments.

Simon_Cowbell · Apr 19, 2007

jgmacg said:

An indefensible decision.

Two good arguments against airing the material here:

http://poynter.org/forum/?id=32178
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yep.

about as simple as that

Simon_Cowbell · Apr 19, 2007

21 said:

jgmacg said:

21 said:

It's not up to us to decide what people NEED to know....but it's our job to report news. Anyone in the news media who honestly believes the photos and video shouldn't have been shown, shouldn't be in the news media.
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Then why don't we air the beheadings?

And if this inspires dozens more self-aggrandizing psychopathic copycats, what then?
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Following your logic, why show the recording of the gunshots? CNN actually split the screen and showed a counter, so folks at home could keep tally. Objection?

You're too smart to make the beheadings comparison...we also don't air bodies falling out of buildings and smashing to the ground. There's a big difference between a picture of someone holding a gun, and a picture of the gun blowing someone's head away.

And to your second point, any self-aggrandizing psychopaths who might go this far already have countless role models to emulate.
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It's simply pornography.

But, because the guy is fully clothed, it runs.

Simon_Cowbell · Apr 19, 2007

Flying Headbutt said:

Anyone of us who doesn't think the package was newsworthy and part of a compelling aspect of the story shouldn't be in journalism. Any newspaper that got this would have printed his words in the paper while posting the video on their website. Any radio station that got it would have aired the audio, and NBC did what any other television station would have. To suggest otherwise is purely absurd.
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Ooooooooooooooooohhhhh...... we shouldn't be in the hard-nosed business that is American journalism!

Simon_Cowbell · Apr 19, 2007

TheSportsPredictor said:

jgmacg said:

From MATTHEW FELLING* Newspapers in the midwest agreed to push high school shootings off the front page and inside the paper, so as to not incite copycats. By giving a sick young man the opportunity on national TV to compare himself to "Jesus Christ" and hold himself up as a role model for twenty-something angst, the carrot of National Icon has been dangled before other afflicted youth who need psychological attention.
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Glad it's working.

jgmacg said:

* The unabomber precedent is weak. The unabomber made a demand that his manifesto appear in newspapers, or else he would strike again. In Cho's case, there is no similiar Sword of Damocles dangling over Steve Capus.
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It actually predates the Unabomber back to the Zodiac Killer at least.
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Ahhh..... the misrepresentation button is pushed again.

The writer's POINT was spot on.

Ace · Apr 19, 2007

Simon/Pube: PM me when you are done arguing with yourself.

Simon_Cowbell · Apr 19, 2007

Captain_Kirk said:

Air it.

It added details to the story we didn't have prior to these tapes. All we heard is he was a silent, anti-social type. From that, folks may have drawn a picture of a loner, snapping out of control in a single, instantaneous reaction.

This shows so much more. First of all, it shows he could talk, in fact, that he could be a chatty little bugger, which shows how disingenuous of a person he was, contrary to all his other social interactions. And it shows the venom and evil in his thoughts and words that eventually translated to action. And it gives more insight into how premeditated the whole event was.

And people say he was mentally ill. After seeing these tapes, I'm not so sure. I'm think he was just evil. A bad, bad human being. And you don't have to be mentally ill to be bad.
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The images added NONE of what you are writing about.

zeke12 · Apr 19, 2007

A pertinent question: If the television station's true motivation was to expose this guy as the madman that he was, why run excerpts? Wouldn't they just run the clip unedited? Wouldn't that be the truest depiction?

This should not be construed as an argument against running the tapes, BTW.

Montezuma's Revenge · Apr 19, 2007

I'm amazed by the number of people posting here who do not belong in this business.

If NBC had withheld the video, it rightfully would have been slammed for that.

All withholding the video would have done was given him some sort of mystique he didn't deserve. Instead, we saw him for the whiny, excuse-making, paranoid, delusional pathetic excuse for a human being that he was.

Simon_Cowbell · Apr 19, 2007

Montezuma's Revenge said:

I'm amazed by the number of people posting here who do not belong in this business.

If NBC had withheld the video, it rightfully would have been slammed for that.

All withholding the video would have done was given him some sort of mystique he didn't deserve. Instead, we saw him for the whiny, excuse-making, paranoid, delusional pathetic excuse for a human being that he was.
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For the millionth time.....

I knew that ... you knew that... without a single mailed image.

dooley_womack1 · Apr 19, 2007

Except in the case of a woman leaving a little something to the imagination, knowing less is never better than knowing more.

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Va Tech Shooter sends "images, letter" to NBC

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Va Tech Shooter sends "images, letter" to NBC

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