Covering Tragedy

Shortly after I learned of the Virginia Tech shootings, I got a random IM on AOL Instant Messanger while watching the news. It was from a girl from a message board I sometimes post on. I had never talked to her, and she really didn't know anything about me. After a short conversation, I mention the shootings. Her immediate response is something along the lines of, "Now we get to watch the media turn it into a circus, that's the saddest thing." She probably felt a little stupid when I later told her I was a journalism major, but in reality, I can't really argue with her.

The three cable news networks, especially, basically treat real-life tragedies as if they were a movie. They create villains---the criticism of the administration immediately before the facts were even known, was sickening. Sure, they probably did deserve to have some questions asked of them, but there’s only one person who deserves to be treated like a monster in this situation. They create heroes, as well, out of those who hold doors closed and risk their own lives to help others. These stories should absolutely be told, but the dramatization of them for strictly entertainment purposes, is wrong.

That said, I have a hard time criticizing anyone who can cover tragedy on the spot, simply because I don’t know if I could do it. I have a hard enough time watching horrific events unfold from the comfort of my own home without getting emotional, and as much as I like to think that I would be able to pull myself together for the sake of journalism, I really am confident that I could do.

While watching the coverage, I was most amazed when members of the Virginia Tech student newspaper were interviewed. The editor of the paper appeared completely unshaken. She spoke of what was going on calmly, and even seemed to revel in the moment somewhat. That blew me away. If something like this happened at Mizzou, I would be a wreck. I can’t imagine not being. It’s hard enough for outsiders to cover tragedy, let alone those that close to her. This isn’t a criticism of her humanity though, but a tip of my cap to her. We need people like that. Someone has to be there to stay composed when the rest of us are shaken, and someone has to tell us the stories we need to hear. These news networks do it, and they do it well.

The competition amongst various news outlets is intense when it comes to breaking news, and there’s no denying the fact that networks have to consider ratings and other aspects of the business side of things. They have to make things interesting to keep viewers from changing the channels. I understand this, and others outside of journalism need to, also. Still, there’s a fine line between making news interesting and making light out of things. Tragedies like the Virginia Tech shootings should be treated as what they are, absolutely horrific and heartbreakingly sad events. They should be mourned, not used as an advertisement for why viewers should tune in. All the commercials I saw on news networks the night after the shooting telling viewers to “Tune in to our show tomorrow night for the latest on the Virginia Tech massacre!” made me sick. People know what happened, they know the news networks will have coverage of them. There’s no need to try to exploit tragedy to attract attention to your show.

The same can be said about coverage of the war in Iraq. By this point, it is completely taken for granted, and it doesn’t even seem to be major news when troops or civilians are killed. It seems the only time we hear much about the war is when a news network wants to promote a show they have coming up that will talk about it. Oh, and slightly off topic, as much as I dislike our current president and administration, Keith Olberman opening and closing his show every night by saying it’s the such and such night since the declaration of “missing accomplished” in Iraq is ridiculous. It’s one thing to criticize a president, but to make light of the fact that people are getting killed every day and to turn it into a joke that we’re still involved in this stupid war, is horrible. Then again, humor might make people watch. After all, isn’t that all that matters?