On the program "On The Media" this week, the main topic of discussion was the Virginia Tech shootings. This is no surprise as it has been the main topic of conversation across the United States, and even on the international field.
As was discussed in "On The Media", NBC took the largest step of all the major networks in airing the home video made by the shooter. While NBC's ratings were extremely high at this point, their criticism also reached a peak. Many people believe that there are just some things you shouldn't show on TV.
Personally, I believe that we expect the mainstream media to go as far as possible. While we may not agree with their actions, we have all come to count on the media to play the images that are too graphic and report on the topics that are too gristly for the public. In addition to this, we have also come to count on the internet to fill in the gaps in the few areas that the mainstream media doesn't cover. Despite all the criticism that networks may receive, they will continue to strive for perfect ratings, and the saying will continue to apply: If it bleeds, it leads.
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2 comments:
Exactly! We, as consumers of news media, have become so engrossed in knowing everything we can about situations, that we have, in a sense, forced the media to report to the point of overkill. As for the video that NBC showed, I believe that they were showing the video because that is what some people want to see and obviously it boosted their ratings.
Yeah, I can agree with Dalisa that NBC did show that video to boost their ratings. However, as I perviously stated in the discussion-board, the media needs to take the proper steps when dealing with a situation like VT.
But on the other hand, I guess people could question whether or not it was right to show the planes crashing over and over again into the World Trade center buildings. That is something that I did want to see. All I am trying to say is that the media should use better judgement when dealing with such personal stories; showing that video made an icon out of psychotic murderer.
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