A single act of violent crime is not news. Ever. Period.
by Madeline Zane, Unknown NewsApril 22, 2007
A single act of violent crime is not news. Ever. Period. I can see giving the Virginia Tech story about 60 seconds in a newscast, because it was the deadliest something-something
I can see giving the Virginia Tech story about 60 seconds in a newscast, because it was the deadliest something-something in American history.
And I'll give you another two minutes to mention that our nations' policies on gun control and mental health lead to a more dysfunctional and violent society.
Anything more than that is exploitation, pure and simple.
in American history. And I'll give you another two minutes to mention that our nations' policies on gun control and mental health lead to a more dysfunctional and violent society. Anything more than that is exploitation, pure and simple.
How many people died on Monday, April 16 because our government won't treat health care as a basic human right? How many people died in preventable workplace accidents? Or from unsafe consumer products? Or from cancer caused by industrial pollution? I don't have those numbers, but in every single case, it's damn sure more than thirty. Ten times that many people were killed on the Saturday just two days before the VT massacre, as a result of America's unnecessary, lie-based war in Iraq.
Our comment: When I was a kid (which really wasn't that long ago), TV newscasts, even local newscasts, were fairly 'newsy' 22-minute collection of the day's news. It was far from perfect, nowhere near comprehensive, but if there was any fluff it was held for the last few minutes. It was certainly not at all like the newscasts of today, where any news gets tucked into a corner as an afterthought, while the "news" that's covered is dominated by murders, kidnappings, house fires, weather and auto wrecks, celebrity crap, fluff, and almost anything but news.
It's a big part of the reason we're here at this website.
All these deaths are real news stories, because they are caused by fixable problems in American policy and politics. But these stories don't come with the same violence, pathos, and general sexiness of a crazed lone gunman on a rampage.
Yes, we are shocked and saddened by this story. We are shocked and saddened that even some of our favorite, most progressive news sources took precious hours away from actual news reporting last week, to wallow in this sensationalist muck.
