News media blaming college officials and police for shootings?

Question

This is a real shocker, the news media is blaming the police and school officials for not locking down a 2600 acre college campus with over 26,000 students. Maybe instead of calling 911 somebody should have called Nancy Grace and this whole thing could have been avoided. She would have locked down the campus leaving the gunman with nowhere to hide. I know the news media is nothing but a bunch of monday morning quarterbacks but this is even low for them. Maybe they should be a little more responsible in their reporting. All day long it's been referred to as a new record or the largest shooting spree in history. You know some loser at home watching is planning a way to break the record.

To Juniper - Sure they are asking the same questions because the media is feeding it to them.

How does locking down a campus when you have no idea where the shooter is help you. What if he would have been locked down inside one of the buildings and then started shooting. Then they would be blaming the cops and school officials for locking down kids with a crazed gunman.

Answer 1

You make 2 excellent and valid points.

1. Why are we blaming everyone except the perpetrator of this heinous act?

2. Why must we give every gory detail over & over again, when we know that someone is just sitting out there waiting to "break the record."

Answer 2

I think this has more to do with the way things are being portrayed. In other words, people didn't have all the facts as quickly as they wanted, and when there are no answers people tend to fill in the blanks. I guess people thought that after those first shots were fired, police should have busted down the doors. Since that cell phone recorded those shots, it made it seem like the police weren't moving fast enough. Also, I was wondering about the lock down thing to until I realized how large the campus was. Once again, people don't have all the facts, so they fill in the blanks with what they have - which in this case is very little. I agree - there is definately a misguided person out there who is acting like it's a video game, and he's gotta beat the high score.

Answer 3

I think in situations like this people need to find someone/thing to blame and place to put their anger. Also, all of the 24/7 news programs need something to fill their airwaves and all of the talking heads (idiots in most cases) need something to spew about.
Remember in hindsight everyone always has 20/20 vision.
I saw the report this morning and it seemed logical to me...the first incident appeared to an isolated murder/suicide and/or domestic violence matter. Also, apparently the police received wrong information about the gunman from the first shooter. How could anyone predict the tragedy that would unfold 2 hours later.

Answer 4

It's the same media that makes people think that there was peace in the middle east before we went to Iraq, and that it would still be peaceful if we had never gone. They say it is Bush's fault that they like blowing each other up.

The media would have blamed the college for an "unecessary" action if they had chosen to go into lock-down and the shooter didn't attack again. The media if full of idiots.

Answer 5

I totally agree with you. In my opinion, there is nothing that any group of people could have done to prevent this awful shooting unless you can get inside the head of every individual person on the campus or on the streets. Who knows what someone is thinking and planning. The knee-jerk reaction and accusation is not going to help anyone. These students were innocent bystanders who lost their lives and were hurt. The problem has more to do with whether people have a God-conscious or not and are able to determine right from wrong. Our society is full of people who are not sane and are unable to deal with reality and there is no campus security, no police, FBI, CIA, Home Security, Focus Group, Parent Association or any group who can stop a madman. All you can do is try to keep yourself safe, keep your eyes open and pray for peace.

Answer 6

After someone shoots two people in his dorm room, I'd have done what the school did--assume it was personal and that the gunman fled campus, call police and start trying to find the murderer. I don't think anyone could have known he was going to go across campus two hours later and have a shooting spree.

And I agree with the guy who says that if more people were packing, tragedies like this would never get this extreme. If one out of fifty people carried a gun, things would never get out of hand like this.

Answer 7

The media's dealing with of this concern is apalling and disgusting. The administrator actually did the suitable element. having been on the VT campus i won't be in a position to think of the activity of locking down the college, and who might desire to assume that this guy or woman might proceed the rampage. 9 situations out of 10 the campus is the main secure place for the scholars and team and faculty. The media might desire to all be sanctioned for failing to checklist info and sensationalizing a countrywide tradgedy.

Answer 8

It's stupid. So what if they put the place on "lockdown"? The guy would have found 30 other people to shoot. What the hell is "lockdown" anyway? Is this college a prison or something? At least this thing got Imus out of the news.

Love Jack

Answer 9

Because they don't want to blame themselves for their one hundred year long campaign to disarm citizens. Had the students at VA TECH been allowed to conceal and carry, this would have been ended much sooner with much fewer deaths. If you want to ask who is to blame for things like this happening, thank liberals. They take guns away from people and tell them they don't need them because the police will keep people safe. It took 3 hours for the police to handle this, but can you blame them. The only solution to things like this is to put the responsibility for protecting yourself in others in the hands of every American.

Answer 10

Apparently, the school assumed that the shooter had left after the first shots, that was thier mistake. but it's not like they wanted more students to die. If the shooting had happened at my school(UT Pan American), a thousand gagnsters would have taken out thier guns and shot back.