shakran

**Parts of shakran's post are missing because I suck - mixedmedia**

**Fortunately it was still in my browser history, it's restored. No worries --Shakran**

And I want everyone to know that I told you I step in and speak up when I think people are wrong, so I'm speaking up again. You weren't obtuse. I told you in PM's that the media has brought a lot of the ire toward it on itself. We should not breathlessly declare every damn thing to be breaking news, or action news now, or whatever other dumbassed buzzwords our consultants come up with this month. We should concentrate on telling you ISSUES and things that are important to YOU, not stupid crap. I can't tell you how many times even my station (which is far better than most) has nixed doing an important story about an issue that will effect everyone that watches us, in favor of "hey it's raining really hard and sometimes when it rains streets flood" type stories. I'm no defender of the media - just the people in the trenches who see its possibilities and are working to realize that potential. Unfortunately it's an uphill struggle because our bosses see only dollar signs, and hold no illusions of an altruistic service to their fellow citizens. Until you the viewer demands better, it's not going to get any better. Let's be honest - you watch that crap we do. You watch Dateline's "to catch a predator" even though it's not news, they're trying to make news, and in fact are violating some of the most basic ethical principals of journalism by getting involved with it. You watch crap like Cops and Fear Factor - why shouldn't my bosses think you want more of that when you watch the news? Help us out here everyone - tell them what I firmly believe to be true - that you want good news that covers the issues that effect you.


CNN was a great idea. Unfortunately it's lost its way. CNN and the other cablenets need to model themselves after NPR. Rather than breathlessly repeating the headlines all day, or taking us to live coverage of some idiot police chase in California or Texas, they need to do what NPR does. Give us the news at the top of the hour, and then discuss issues that matter to us.

Some of 'em are sort of doing that - even Fox "News" Channel has issue-oriented discussion shows, but they're going about it backwards. The presenter should not be the focus of these shows. NPR does this right - the presenter gets both (or more) sides together and facilitates a discussion between them without interjecting his own opinion. Bill O'Reilly could learn a lot from that if he'd just go through with that rectal-cranial inversion therapy he so desperately needs.

Infinite_Loser, I disagree with you that this is not tragic. It's tragic not only because 32 people were killed needlessly, but because it's another chip away at our national innocence. Colleges are supposed to be safe places. You're supposed to go there to learn, not to get slaughtered. It's a tragedy that we can't think that way anymore, just as 9/11 was a tragedy in part because we no longer could think we were immune to the turmoils of the rest of the world.

I don't have a problem with them covering the memorial service - it can be cathartic to people who are shocked, saddened, and mourning over this event, yet who cannot for whatever reason be at the memorial themselves. To people who don't need that catharsis, well, they don't have to watch.

I have covered enough funerals (especially lately with the soldier deaths) and have gotten enough viewer mail in response to it to know that people who can't make it to services like this appreciate and I will go so far as to say even NEED us to bring them there through their TV set.

I also disagree that we don't need to know as much about this man as possible. Only by understanding who he was and why he did it can we hope to prevent such an event in the future. We cannot close our eyes and ears to his obvious pain and/or derangement just because we're angry with him.

Let's think about this folks. This man killed 31 people before shooting himself. We obviously can't physically prevent this - we can't lock the entire population of the country up in strait jackets to prevent someone from going berserk. Only if we understand the factors leading up to such a crime can we hope to prevent it. Our motive for knowing what we can about him is not, or at least should not be, prurient interest in the deranged, but passionate interest in self preservation.