The nation is still focused on Blacksburg, Va. as all Americans honor the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings.
But as the initial shock wears off, news organizations need to be weary of hyping a story that doesn’t need the standard cable news sensationalism.
This story has been sent across the globe since it occurred at the beginning of the week. People in Australia, London, India, South Korea and more are all discussing the matter.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun offered condolences to victims for a third time and, among the South Korean public, a sense of despair prevailed.
“I and our people cannot contain our feelings of huge shock and grief,” said President Roh Moo-hyun. “I pray for the souls of those killed and offer words of comfort from my heart for those injured, the bereaved families and the U.S. people.”
Hundreds left messages on the country’s top Web site, Naver.
“I’m too shameful that I’m a South Korean,” wrote an Internet user identified only by the ID iknijmik. “As a South Korean, I feel apologetic to the Virginia Tech victims.”
Ed Board understands that the Koreans are apologizing for Seung-Hiu because they do not want any race-related retaliation to occur. Asian-American groups have released similar statements for the same reason.
But this is an angle of the story not worth the time devoted to it. There have been no retributions and there is no need for the Korean peninsula to apologize for a killer. Seung-Hiu wasn’t acting on behalf of his country, he was only carrying out his personal desires.
Not to mention the flap about NBC’s airing of the controversial video made by the killer.
As (amateur) members of the media, we appreciate that the network has to walk a careful line between letting people know the whole truth and not offending its viewership.
We know that many don’t want to pay the killer attention.
But we also know that the families who want to see the man who killed their children have a right to do so.
We know that after an event like this, people have a driving desire to understand why.
Even though there’s never going to be a definitive answer, the media have an obligation to report on as much of what happened as possible.
