Posted on 04/20/2007 6:33:57 AM PDT by shortstop
How is it that no one at NBC knew what everyone in America knows?
How did the self-important network types not know that you don’t reward murderers, that you don’t devastate survivors, that you don’t play into the hands of a monster?
How did NBC not know that showing that stuff was wrong? Has the blood lust of what used to be called the news gotten so exhilarating that stroking the ego of a dead psychopath is considered good television? Have the talking heads diverted so far from the values and sensibilities of the American mainstream that their souls and consciences are cold and dead?
Must be.
Because that was wrong.
With his first two victims still dead where they dropped and his next 30 victims just settling into their classes, demon boy stood waiting for the post office to open. And a minute after it did he had his legacy on the way. His little time capsule of evil and insanity.
Caught up in the evolving fantasy of criminal celebrity, this particular dog left nothing to chance. He put together his own press kit, with dozens of video clips and dozens of still pictures and page after page of hateful spitting in the face of the people whose lives he destroyed.
He posed like characters in a movie, he strutted in his commando get up, he pointed the gun at the camera.
He defined himself for all the world to see, a post mortem demand for attention and adulation, a guttural “Look at me!” mixed with a finger he was giving society.
And NBC went along with it.
The peacock network became the bull crap network. Seemingly oblivious to the degree of manipulation it was surrendering to, NBC decided that it’s all a game of gotcha, some new wrinkle in the 24-hour news cycle in which anything goes and you ignore the fact that there are real people on the other end.
You ignore the fact that those pictures will sicken some and arouse others. You forget about the broken-hearted families and the budding wannabes, you forget about everything but the perverted sense of soulless journalism that seethes in the arrogant heart of the network news.
Because other people’s suffering is your bread and butter. It’s like you get turned on that this was a record number of deaths, you focus in on tears in a pornography of exploitation, you send your anchors to stand on the drill field like they do week after week for story after story.
While today’s graphic is a sickening shell of a shaved-head freak ranting on America’s televisions.
And NBC is his partner in achieving the fame he sought. And NBC is his partner in perpetuating the belief among the stunted underclass of like-minded beasts that the price of notoriety is paid in other people’s blood. NBC has told every loser in the world that if you want to get on TV, all you have to do is kill a bunch of people and send out some pictures.
Shame on NBC.
And shame on NBC for shifting the blame to others.
The package came to NBC. The network made copies and passed the package to the FBI. A few hours later, NBC was broadcasting pictures and hate around the globe. The network too pure for Don Imus felt fine about giving a platform to Cho Seung-Hui.
NBC had the power to make sure those images never saw the light of day. NBC had the power to protect the families and society. NBC had the power to take away the incentive for the next guy to come along with his package and his pile of bodies.
The materials given to the FBI might never have been made public. Inasmuch as there will be no trial, they would not be introduced as evidence and consequently would probably stay confidential. That left NBC in the catbird seat.
And NBC chose to play the pimp.
Without consulting with anyone involved – not the families, not the school, not the police – NBC broadcast a murderer’s slander of his victims.
And America was enraged.
While NBC clung to its precious principles.
How is it that no one at NBC knew what everyone in America knows?
And how is it that NBC didn’t care?
This is about more than some pictures, it is about a news business which preys on society instead of serving it. It is about a news industry that actively promotes division and despair, that feeds on conflict and condemnation, that openly hates the society it reports on and profits from.
This added insult to injury.
This was immoral and wrong.
And this, for NBC news viewers, should be the last straw.
It’s time to change the channel.
‘And NBC chose to play the pimp.’
Hey now! Lighten up!
Haven’t you heard? Its hard out there for a pimp.
NBC had zero shows in the top 20 last week.
They “agonized” over the decision to air this for less than a nanosecond.
Just because you CAN do something ... doesn’t mean you SHOULD do that thing.
Naw - they're ratings hos.
NBC, and the rest of them love when a “story” just creates itself and they can just run on idle. (car chases, bimbos, Rosie, lunatics, ...)
I got tired of this guy Cho about 20 seconds of seeing his wimpy, loser self.
Take the guns and knives away and I bet he fights like a girl. (no offense to girls....just sayin’)
I completely agree with your view of NBC on this topic.
What does he expect from NBDNC, a soul?? Have they put the entire screed up on their website yet?? Then it wasn’t for news value but Brian William’s ego.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Thank you.
In 1976 I had a chance to make a career for myself with NBC but after a month of observation and seeing what a gang of back stabbing SOBs they were I decided that i’d rather pick up trash once a week than live in it 24/7. Not that there were some genuine good people in that company but the a**holes more than made up for them.
Words just can’t describe how pathetic this guy was.If the talking heads on tv want to get it right they should verbally chop him up, and show no mercy.
hell I bet Howard Fineman could whip Cho........
Or Andrew Sullivan...
Andrew Sullivan ? He would slap ya then wanna kiss and make up........double triple yuk
So who is calling for Alec Baldwin to be fired from his show? If I were a coworker I’d be afraid of him the way those VTech students were afraid.
And so, they won’t play the next copycat mass murderer’s clips. And his victims will still be dead.
I can’t for the life of me see what the big deal is. This was news. A tape from the guy before the attack. The whole country is wondering why he did it, and a tape shows up. People wanted to see it, so NBC showed it.
After the fact, people sit around and play the “gee, from my high and mighty chair I think I will pontificate on what news organizations should and should not be allowed to show”.
It was news. That is the business NBC is in.
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