Giving him the Power

With more and more details coming in about Virginia Tech shooter Cho
Seung-Hui, it seems the media can’t get enough.

NBC New York received a package from Cho yesterday that included a video manifesto and several photos.

According to NBC, the video was mailed in between the first and second shootings. In it, he blamed what he was about to do on “rich” kids. The photos were of him brandishing the very weapons police believe he used to carry out his killings.

"You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option" he said in the recordings. "You have blood on your hands that will never wash off."

Cho’s massacre of 32 people has gone down in history as one of the worst single-person shootings. But what NBC and other media outlets did with Cho’s manifesto is just as appalling.

As soon NBC received the package, it was on the air before police could even look at it. Not only that, but at a press conference, NBC told other media outlets that they would have to watch their newscast to see what the manifesto included.

It was here that the insensitivity of at least one media giant was exposed. NBC basically told parents, investigators and other media outlets that they would have learn the big question of “why?” on NBC’s terms.

But that was only the tip of the iceberg.

Once the other media outlets obtained the video and images, it was drilled into the heads of viewers and listeners with all of the insensitivity one would expect from big corporations trying to boost ratings.

NBC’s nightly news anchor Brian Williams even said “this was a sick business tonight, going on the air with this.”

It was not just NBC either. CBS and CNN were just as guilty. Ratings have turned our own media against us.

There was no need to broadcast the gun-brandishing images. There was also no need to broadcast Cho’s messages. By doing so, the media fell right into his trap.

All that was accomplished by broadcasting those images was strengthening Cho’s message. He effectively turned the media into his tool and they fell for it, hook, line and sinker. And by watching it, we gave him the power.

It’s already been established that Cho Seung-Hui was a sick and twisted individual. He even demonstrated the warning signs of someone who needed help.

But we ignored him and allowed him to grow into a merciless monster. And it’s only now that we listen.

And as I’ve said before, it is we who decide what appears on television. We made that monster and we gave power to his message. The only reason his pictures and words were aired is because we lend the media our ears.

We need to start listening in real life and stop listening to what corporations tell us we should hear. Then those corporations will be forced to pander to the real news.