OUR VIEW: Do no harm – the journalist’s tenet
The shooting at Virginia Tech happened one week ago today. It seems like a lot longer than that, doesn’t it?
Every major media outlet has dedicated plenty of space and air time to covering the shooting. Numerous columns and radio shows have been devoted to the tragedy, and gestures of condolence have come from all over the country, spurred by the reminder that this kind of violence could happen anywhere, and is difficult to predict or prevent.
These gestures are surely true, heartfelt efforts at compassion. The pain that is felt most intensely in Blacksburg, Va. right now, is radiating out and reaching sympathetic people all across the country. The problem is, it’s reaching other ears, as well.
In Prince William County in Northern Virginia Friday three high schools received bomb threats. Seven students were arrested in connection with the threats, according to The Washington Post.
The same day in Yuba City, Calif., a 28-year-old man threatened to go on a shooting spree with an AK-47, saying he would make the Virginia Tech massacre “look mild,” Reuters reported.
Other threats have cropped up since last Monday at universities in California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, as well as at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho. Other threats have been received, mostly at high schools, but also middle and elementary schools, in Sioux City, Iowa, Monticello, Ill., Kerens, Texas, Des Moines, Iowa, Green Bay, Wisc., Clayton, N.J., La Porte County, Ind., Mesa, Ariz., Birmingham, Ala., Rockville, Md., Provo, Utah, and many other cities and communities. Some were connected to the Virginia Tech shooting by the person who made the threat, and others alluded to the eight-year anniversary of the Columbine High shooting. Some have been connected only through speculation. Still others have been determined to be hoaxes.
A school administrator in Aurora, Colo. said he deals with at least 12 threats from students a month, a Colorado news station reported, but since the shooting he has seen an increase. This could be attributed to the event itself inspiring people who are already predisposed to this behavior, but the media’s coverage itself could also be to blame.
Media outlets have been flooded with information about the shooting. While not progressing to the point that other news is totally neglected, the persistent coverage has become a spectacle to satisfiy people’s morbid curiosity.
The truly shameful thing, however, was NBC’s choice to release the material sent to them by Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech student responsible for the slayings. Cho sent a video of himself to NBC News as a sort of post-death farewell. NBC aired it.
The wisdom of this move is questionable. As can be seen, a flurry of threats by people who want to be part of the elite group founded by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris has cropped up. Even though the media did not create the circumstances which push people towards random violence, by making Cho a celebrity, they may have hurt the situation.
NBC helped him achieve his goal by jumping at one of the biggest stories in a while without thinking. Cho message was dispersed in the widest way possible.
One of journalism’s principles is to do no harm. It may be questioned whether the American media held to that principle this week.