Hokie - “a word that people used to express feeling, approval, excitement, surprise” - Johann Norstedt - Retired VA Tech English Professor

Once again, a suicidal maniac hell-bent on exacting as much revenge as possible has struck one of the nation’s schools, this time a world-class university. But as information about the shootings, suspect and victims arrived at news desks in drips and drabs, the over-the-top coverage of the incident by the mainstream media wasn’t very helpful. In fact, the sensationalism with which NBC, Fox News and others covered this nightmare did nothing except feed disinformation and rampant speculation.

On the April 16th morning broadcast of Fox News Live, within hours of the conclusion of the massacre, Fox contributor and former D.C. Homicide Detective Rod Wheeler was asked about the possibility that an M-16 may have been this shooter’s weapon of choice. It is unclear -and may never be known- whether a witness reported an M-16, whether a witness assumed that an M-16 was involved due to the volume of fire or exactly where Fox obtained this information.

If you’ll remember the Beltway sniper incident which turned out to be the work of John Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, initial speculation in the media was that a military-trained sniper was likely involved. Similarly, the immediate focus of the media speculators once again fell on a member of our armed forces in Blacksburg. Mr. Wheeler wondered aloud on camera what the shooter’s affiliation to the military might have been, as M-16s were not exactly easy to come by. A former homicide detective ought to know better than to stir this pot…

Fox interviewed numerous witnesses throughout the day. But rather then asking them the questions necessary to obtain the facts such as “where were you when the shooting started?” or “what did you see?”, they were asked things like “How are you feeling?” or “What’s going through your head right now?”

Later that evening on the O’Reilly factor, Bill O’Reilly had a couple of students on to help fill in some of the blanks. Unfortunately for O’Reilly, he learned after a few brief questions to one of the students that the “witness” had no first hand knowledge of the shootings. He heard it from another student, who probably heard from another and so on. The bumper music gave the cue and O’Reilly said they would be right back with two more students who could tell us what happened.

O’Reilly’s failure to properly vet sources or check facts was -in a word- amateurish. As was his umpteenth defense of his use of the word “wetback”. In 2003, O’Reilly was taken to task for using the slur on the air. To be fair, he was referring to the people smugglers, or “coyotes”, but surely someone of O’Reilly’s intellect knows what a “wetback” is. Or does he? When put in proper context, not a racist comment, but one uttered out of ignorance.

Upon tuning in to Fox on day two of this developing story, we were treated to somber piano music and photos of the shooter Seung Hui Cho. Worse was a graphic used on The Big Story With John Gibson. It consisted of two photos of Cho -one a portrait, the other a profile- superimposed with the title “Face of a Killer”, and complete with yellow crime scene tape reading “Police Line Do Not Cross”, fingerprints, and -worst of all- a Virginia Tech logo. The kind they use to represent the Hokies at a football game. This sort of sensationalist hype is barely worthy of supermarket tabloids, much less cable news.

Later in the week, NBC treated us to graphic images of Cho, the “martyr” and broadcast his sickness for all to see, encouraging the next “victim” to come forward and stake his claim to fame. Many have obliged, taking tentative steps in that direction. Since the shootings at Virginia Tech, there have been threats at schools in a dozen states. Instead of validating the achievements of these bright, young students, NBC chose to validate the twisted logic of a psychopath, virtually ensuring that his message will live on.

When someone has crossed that line;

When they’re no longer concerned with human life, whether it be theirs or someone else’s;

When they intend to go out in a bloodbath, taking as many people with them as possible;

The last thing we should be doing is sensationalizing it. It causes even more notoriety, which draws even more attention-seekers out of the woodwork.

As long as there is a camera rolling, there will always be someone willing to step in front of it, whether that be for harmless entertainment, shock value or to get revenge. We need to understand as a society when to avert our eyes. When to turn it off.

It’s for our own good.

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