Mike Harper

It simply made me sick that money always wins.

Samantha Wilson

they gave the killer what he wanted.

Melissa Michelle Fitzgerald

NBC, you have given Cho what he wanted. Fame. In doing so, you are victimizing the families and friends who are suffering. How are your ratings? Here in the New River Valley, we will remember the VT students and faculty for who they were in life, not death.There is nothing left to say that could help us understand this tragedy.

continue reading "NBC News Petitioner comments"

Tom Dorsey

Your actions disgust me and I will not watch NBC until a formal apology and admission of error is issued. Not only did you sensationalize a mass murderer into a celebrity, but you did so under the guise of true reporting. You sicken me.

Linda Keeler

disgraceful

Jon Ray

This information did not make us better people or more informed.

continue reading "More petitioner comments"

George Revelle:

Please reconsider not to air.

Karen Revelle:

Let those family start the healing processes.

Robin Ondo:

Freedom of the press? What about some compassion for the victims, their families and a grieving nation? NBC had no right to make us all relive this madman’s heinous actions over and over again. Once was bad enough. The tapes should have been turned over to the authorities and never aired. I will not support NBC’s (or Cho’s) actions and I will never watch an NBC station again.

continue reading "NBC News Boycott petitioner comments"

Jonathan Wallace, of the Ethical Spectacle, wrote about VT:

What’s worse, through the propagation of these pictures, his videos and his writings by the media and the Internet, he got the attention and legitimacy he presumably craved in life. I sympathize with the victim’s families who feel that what Mark Twain called the “lionization” of murderers is tantamount to second assault.

The Ward View backs up our efforts:

With all due respect NBC, y’all are morons.

The Converging Network:

Stand up and take account for the shameful job you’ve done, NBC News. The shame in your decision stretched from Brian Williams to Matt Lauer. They knew you were going to take heat the moment this bad decision was made and the guilt was written all over their faces for all to see.

continue reading "More Blogosphere Rxn"

Various members of team news boycott have been travelling and we’ll return to normal blog posting shortly. In the meantime, here are more comments from our petition asking Steve Capus and NBC News to apologize.

Jessica Nester:

NBC should be ashamed for airing the video of Cho and for displaying the pictures he sent. Imagine what the family of the victims or the survivors of the shooting felt when the picture of Cho pointing a gun at the camera was shown. It was very disturbing to me so imagine what it was like for the victim’s families. You should have had a little more respect.

Katie:

We need to be focusing more on the victims and celebrating what amazing lives they lived and mourning how these incredible, beautiful, intelligent people will be so deeply missed.

continue reading "Comments from NBC News boycott petitioners"

Veteran zinester Jonathan Wallace comes up with an impressively clear-headed analysis of the VT shooter and media response in this month’s Ethical Spectacle,

Cho, like Al Qaeda suicide operatives, represents a third and very dangerous category. Because the individual is planning to die, the penalties are inapplicable, and there is no deterrent effect. Such people turn the criminal laws inside out. The penalty, instead of being something to be feared, in effect becomes the price to be paid for the right to commit an act. Just as a putative thoughtful thug could decide that seven years in prison was a fair price to pay for the right to commit an assault, people like Cho and Mohammed Atta believe that their own death validates any number of murders committed at the same time. In other words, if you are going to die, you might as well make a political or social point, or simply satisfy yourself, by taking any number of other people with you.

In the featured article of the May edition of one of the ‘net’s oldest and most venerable e-monthlys, Wallace makes his most cogent and insightful point towards the end, saying

What I find more interesting is Cho’s pictures of himself posing with gloves, vest and guns. A slightly built, unremarkable outsider with extremely low self esteem created a self portrait in which he looks scary, in control and–lets admit it–cool. The invisible guy made himself highly visible in this picture. What’s worse, through the propagation of these pictures, his videos and his writings by the media and the Internet, he got the attention and legitimacy he presumably craved in life. I sympathize with the victim’s families who feel that what Mark Twain called the “lionization” of murderers is tantamount to second assault.[emphasis added]

We at Newsboycott congratulate Mr. Wallace on his excellent philosophical intuition. However, we would like to point out that he could have added that in addition, he has science on his side. As we discussed in a previous post here on Newsboycott, researchers have subjected the Copy-cat Effect to scrutiny in accordance with to the rigorous standard of academic medicine. They have discovered that, indeed, there is empirical evidence to show that “propagation of these pictures, his videos and his writings by the media and the Internet” encourages further attention-seekers to copy the spree-killer’s example. Check the tell-tale graphs, if you missed them!

Here are some more reactions to Steve Capus’s decision to air Cho’s multimedia manifesto.

Chris McCauliffe:

This is vile and despicable. I hope you have trouble living the rest of your life knowing that you are responsible for fufilling the killer’s final twisted wish and that you spread such a message of hate.

Elizabeth Williams:

I believe that showing the video and the photos and everything else was wrong! That should have never been done! You had not only a grieving families and friends but also a grieving nation. To show this was an error on your part, this should have never been shown! Instead of allowing the families to watch it if they wanted you showed the whole nation..and what did that do? Created more copycats. Way to go.

continue reading "Comments from the NBC News petition"

Here at News boycott, we’re pained to see our efforts to help stop media sensationalism and to shame NBC News depicted from time to time as urging “censorship”. To point out the difference, we bring to reader attention these two instances in which the media decided that the public didn’t need to know about certain viewpoints or couldn’t be trusted with certain information. First, former US Senator Gravel, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, who in spite of a record of public service longer than two of the “leading” candidates, and no worse name recognition than certain “mainstream” candidates who are also polling at zero percent, has received almost no coverage in the mainstream media, and will likely be barred from future presidential debates. He explains the situation here:

continue reading "What makes the cut: two actual examples of media suppression"