Letters to the Editor - Cartoon trivializes worldwide tragedy
Monday, April 23, 2007
I am offended and embarrassed by the editorial cartoon featured on April 18 concerning the shootings at Virginia Tech.
It is insulting and irresponsible to poke fun at such a tragic event that has affected college students worldwide and many UCLA students personally.
If the intent was to help students laugh away their anxieties, it failed. Furthermore, to relate the tragedy at Virginia Tech with current events in the Middle East is preposterous.
As an enthusiastic reader of the Daily Bruin, I ask that in the future your cartoons be more sensitive.
Julian Diaz
Third-year, English and history
Julian Diaz
2007-07-15
Sara Hood
Saba Riazati <editor@media.ucla.edu>
eng
Media doesn't always know best
By Mark Humphrey
Monday, April 23, 2007
It's no secret that the news media exercises bad judgment at times.
Granted, we, as journalists, try to make informed decisions about what to cover and how. For example, during summer training at the Daily Bruin, we did a news-judgment exercise involving an actual story.
The story was about a baby who had been murdered by her father, and the story also highlighted how a welfare program had failed the family. The issue was whether to run a photo of a coroner holding a bag that had the baby's body in it - was the photo just simply shocking, or did it further the purpose of the story?
We ultimately decided we would run the photo. Our reasoning was that the photo, while shocking and potentially in poor taste, further hammered home the main point of the story - how social programs had failed this family so terribly.
Judging by the mainstream media's recent coverage of certain events, I think many journalists would do well to take part in this same exercise.
In the past few weeks we've been bombarded by three stories. First came radio douche bag Don Imus' derogatory remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team. Then came NBC's decision to broadcast Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui's videotaped rantings. Finally, there came Alec Baldwin's disturbing phone message to his daughter.
Aside from showing the ugly side of humanity, these stories have one thing in common: They were all covered in a misguided fashion.
With Imus, people were right to be up in arms. He defamed a group of talented young women at what was supposed to be their finest moment. Unfortunately, this story got hammered into the ground, filling the airwaves at every single second of the day. Why was this a problem? Because of media hypocrisy.
One of the main reasons the media gave for covering this so relentlessly was to right Imus' wrong: defaming a group of women because of what he thought of their physical appearance.
Yet, by covering this so excessively, Imus' comments have been replayed so many times it's gotten to the point where some would associate the Rutgers women less with basketball and more with Imus. It doesn't matter how untrue his remarks are, as the Rutgers women have almost solely been associated with Don Imus since their season ended because of the media firestorm.
Then there's Alec Baldwin's voice-mail tirade, where he refers to his 11-year-old daughter as a "thoughtless little pig" and vows to "straighten (her) out." Once again, media hypocrisy rears its ugly head. Ironically, so much has been said about the well-being of Baldwin's daughter while the real issue has gone ignored.
Namely, how well does it serve Baldwin's daughter to not only hear her parents' dirty laundry aired in public, but also to hear the phone message repeated on television? Wouldn't most sane people say that divorce hurts children, and that the more public the divorce, the more negative the effect on the child?
Bad news judgment reached its zenith with NBC's decision to air videos made by Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui. Naturally, the videos are all over YouTube.
Not only was the decision to air these videos in poor taste, but it didn't serve any purpose from a news standpoint. These videos added no new information and, more importantly, gave Cho exactly what he wanted: attention. Cho died, but NBC's airing of his videos got his message out to everyone.
In journalism, as much as some hate to admit it, the bottom line is still the bottom line. NBC aired these videos to get a jump on the competition, just like every news outlet jumped on them immediately afterward. Anyone who's shocked when the media does something sensational is hopelessly naive. If it bleeds, it leads and, more importantly, makes money.
When the media covers stories like this, it often claims moral superiority. It proclaims outrage and to know what is best for everyone. But if the way these situations have played out is any indication, it's clear that much of the time, the media doesn't have a clue.
While I'm often disgusted by what gets covered and how, I can't begrudge the news media for making a living.
But if they're going to proclaim they know what is best for everyone, they should think about who their coverage is really hurting first.
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Original Source:<a href=http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2007/apr/23/imedia_doesnt_always_know_besti/>The Daily Bruin - April 23, 2007</a>
Mark Humphrey
2007-07-15
Sara Hood
Saba Riazati <editor@media.ucla.edu>
eng
Resilient Hokies try to pick up pieces
<b>Thousands honor fallen, rally hope</b>
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Resounding cries of "Lets go Hokies!" echoed off the walls of Cassell Coliseum on Tuesday, capturing the mix of grief and pride that marked Virginia Tech's first full day of coping with the aftermath of Monday's massacre.
The basketball stadium was filled with shouting students and community members, clad in the orange and maroon reminiscent of a Hokie Homecoming rally.
Only minutes earlier, the room had been silent.
The campus and the community gathered at the coliseum for a Convocation to mourn the deaths of the 33 students and faculty members who died Monday.
President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush attended the event, along with all of Virginia's congressmen, Gov. Tim Kaine and his wife, members of the university board of visitors, members of the clergy, poet and Va. Tech professor Nikki Giovanni and local officials.
"For many of you, your first instinct was to call home and let your moms and dads know that you were OK," Bush said.
"I know many of you feel awfully far away from people you lean on and people you count on during difficult times. But as a dad, I can assure you a parent's love is never far from their child's heart."
The 10,000-seat arena reached capacity about 20 minutes before the event began at 2 p.m. Several thousand people also camped out in Lane Stadium to watch the ceremony on the JumboTron, filling the football field and parts of the stands.
Many students rested their heads on friends' shoulders and cried as speakers took the stage.
The Convocation marked the first time the Tech community was brought together after learning that a senior English major, 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui, was responsible for the shootings.
"How can we know if something like this will happen again?" junior Brandon Campion questioned. "That's like everyone here."
Later Tuesday night, as students gathered on the campus' sprawling Drillfield for a candlelit vigil, a crowd of thousands stood silent for almost 10 minutes. The only sounds were of sniffles and camera shutters, as hundreds of photographers from across the world took in the scene.
But even that somber event would not have been complete without the inevitable shouts of "Hokies!" and thousands of candles hoisted in a defiant toast of light.
At one point, a stadium-style wave rippled across the field.
"This is definitely a football school," quipped Weston Hunter, a graduate student in the mathematics department.
Hunter said it felt right to remain on campus, even as many students left to be with family and friends.
"It's good to be here," he said. "This is the most relevant place to be."
Police confirmed Tuesday morning that Seung-Hui was the gunman in the shooting at Norris Hall, an engineering building, which left 31 people dead, including Seung-Hui. His death is being called a suicide.
An earlier shooting at West Ambler-Johnston Residence Hall left two people dead - resident adviser Ryan Clark and freshman Emily Hilscher.
Campus police Chief Wendell Flinchum said Tuesday that one of two handguns recovered from the Norris Hall crime scene also was used in the dorm shooting. However, he stopped short of saying Seung-Hui was the shooter in both incidents. One gun was a 9 mm handgun and the other a .22-caliber handgun.
Seung-Hui was a South Korean native and a legal resident alien of the United States, here on a visa. He lived in Harper Residence Hall.
His permanent residence is listed as Centreville, Va.
As of Tuesday evening, nine people remained hospitalized in stable condition and two in serious condition. More than 20 people were injured in the incident and taken to hospitals across the region.
As the names of victims leaked to the media, students found comfort and grief in the news.
"(Clark) was doing his job and I think that's the hardest thing to deal with," said senior Manisha Joshi, who was a resident adviser with Clark for two years.
Joshi said being around other people who understand what's going on has helped her deal with the tragedy. And even on such a large campus, with more than 25,000 full-time students, it is hard to find anyone who isn't somehow connected to the victims.
"You've either had class with them, they lived on someone's hall, or you've seen them around," junior Staci Hudy said. "I'm waiting to see when individual memorial services are going to be held."
Many students are using Facebook.com to create groups for friends and supporters of the deceased. Some groups also have relayed information about those believed injured or dead.
Numerous students expressed the need for solidarity in this time of crisis, and even many of those planning to spend time at home elected to stay long enough to attend the group events Tuesday.
"I think it was a really nice thing that everybody got together," freshman Tiffani Price said after Convocation. Price said that her biology lab partner was killed and that one of her high-school friends still is missing.
"I think it helped a lot of people. It helped everybody feel they had someone who was experiencing the same thing as them."
Time is what students say it will take to move on and put this incident behind them.
The semester is scheduled to close May 2, with Commencement set for May 12.
"Please don't be concerned right now about how your academic situations will all work out," said Tom Brown, senior associate dean of students, at the Convocation.
"You cannot get your mind back on academics without first taking some time to take care of yourself."
Classes have been canceled for the remainder of the week to give students time to cope with the situation, and Norris Hall will be closed for the rest of the semester.
"I think going to graduation this year is going to have a different effect on a lot of us," Joshi said. "It's going to be a time to celebrate, but it's also going to be a time to remember."
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Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2007/04/18/StateNational/Resilient.Hokies.Try.To.Pick.Up.Pieces-2848413.shtml>Daily Tar Heel - April 18, 2007</a>
Erin France, Eric Johnson, Jessica Schonberg and Alexandria Shealy
Daily Tar Heel
2007-07-27
Sara Hood
Kevin Schwartz <kschwartz@unc.edu>
eng