Is this whole Virginia Tech thing being blown out of proportion in order for the media to get better ratings?

Question

Don't get me wrong. It is a huge tragedy and my heartfelt sorry goes out to those effected.

However, everyday you hear of 60 or so civilians dying of a car bomb in Iraq or military attack, and the media gives this about 10 seconds of coverage. But when 30 AMERICANS are killed, suddenly everyone is mourning for them. Are Americans that self-centered that they value an Americans life more than an Iraq's life?


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Answer 1

I think the media covers the VT incident to keep our attention off of the war in Iraq. Just think about it, last week everyone was falling apart about the Don Imus thing, now we are all mourning the VT tragedy. To be honest, neither of these incidents are worse then the tragedy of Iraq. We could lose the same amount of troops in comparison to those lost at VT every 5-7 days and the same amount of Iraq every 2days-5 hours that the war goes on. For the past 2 weeks no one seemed to remember the war in Iraq. Coverage was ridiculously minimal. For instance, I was was watching Bill Maher last night and he mentioned that America is planning to build a wall through Baghdad, to separate the Sunnis, shites, and Kurds. As this decision was made, no one debated it and no one covered it. I do believe that what happened at Virginia Tech was a tragedy, it is only diversion for our news media to use.

Answer 2

No. I do not think it's blown out of proporiton at all. This was a huge tragedy. I don't think this can be compared to Iraq because there's a civil war right now in Iraq and as unfortunate and sad as it is, deaths are expected there. In VA Tech were college students and professors learning and teaching what they love. It was a shock, it was an awful thing for the college, for the families and friends, and for the nation. Some Americans may care more about Americans. But Iraq probably cares more about Iraq. Just like every other nation puts their citizens first. I'm not trying to sound obnoxious or rude I'm just stating that this is a fact of life. The VA Tech tragedy was also closer to home. The victims deserve their stories told. However I will say I think the gunman Cho is getting WAY too much publicity. The victims deserve more attention than the killer. Some people believe there's no such thing as negative press and by showing his video message, pictures, etc. the media can be inspiring another young, attention-craving, distrubed child to commit a similar act in order to get the same attention. The victims deserve more attention and the killer deserves less.

Answer 3

I agree with you. Everytime I hear of people dying in Iraq and Bhagdad, it gives me goosebumps and I feel so sorry - why? Because it's a human life. People overseas are being killed everyday and dont get me wrong 9/11 and this massacre were huge tragedies but what about all of the people over there? Poor innocent children are dying and nobody cares. But when American children are being killed it's a huge deal. I am not going against our country, I am American - but why should this massacre get more air time than our troops killing how many innocent families in Iraq? - Very controversal topic

HOWEVER - they are also trying to resolve the issue and keep it from happening again, all of the media attention brings to light what we need to do as a whole to gain back control of our schooling security. We continue to overlook the "crazy" people and forget that things like this CAN and WILL happen - it happens in every part of this world, but we can't go to another country and tell them what to do, BUT they can try and make an impact here. So I actually kinda agree with both sides - but it's not right for some of you people to say that Iraq is part of the war so they're allowed to die??!! 2 year old children have nothing to do with the war so why are they dying?

Answer 4

Are you for real?
Yes, everything is all about the media and ratings because no one in the media is affected by death. No member of the media has ever lost someone they love. No member of the media has family in or has been to college.
I don't know why people assume the media is hyping everytime a story is presented. Look, the V-Tech killings were as tragic as anything that has happened in the U.S. since 9/11,,, What if the media simply chose not to report it at all... why not just pretend it didn't happen. We'll all just put our heads in the sand, think good thoughts and sing Kume-bye-ah.. Get with the program. This is not just a Virginia tragedy, it is an American tragedy. What happens to people in one part of this country is felt in other parts. We are living in the United States of America... and the very first word in our country's name is UNITED. That's one of the reasons we feel more for what happens happens to people here than half-way around the world... but that's not to say we don't care what happens to people in other lands... If we didn't, we wouldn't be over there right now fighting for them and their freedom. Don't mistake the amount of time you see on a story for how much people care. If you remember, when the war in Iraq started, the coverage was nearly 24/7... the same for 9/11. To have extensive coverage in the first week or so of a tragedy as big as Virginia Tech should not be a surprise. If you want to get pissy about media coverage, why not complain about how much attention is spent on the paternity situation involving Anna Nicole Smith's baby and the American Idol Sanjaya fiasco. There's a couple of high impact stories affecting our daily lives.

Answer 5

Finally, someone said what I was thinking the whole while. I also feel bad for the families whose kids were involved but it seems like the news stations are focusing on everything but the war in Iraq. I mean, we haven't heard about the war since two months ago and Anna Nicole's death. Americans are very self-centered; I must say as an African American. What I don't like about what they reported on Seung-Hui Cho is that since he was a loner, only loners can do such acts. Not every loner is sitting up somewhere plotting of ways to murder thirty-two people! I think it's wrong the way they're depicting loners. They aren't even focusing on how or why he may have done what he did. Americans can be so self-involved like nothing else is going on.

Answer 6

No it's wasn't blown out of proportion because it was a big deal, but i get your point. We all know that children are kidnapped on a daily basis by strangers and sometimes their own parents. The missing children list numbers in the hundreds. Every now and then, especially if it's a pretty little blond girl who's been kidnapped the media will get a hold of the story and act like she's the first child that ever went missing.

I think it was wrong of the networks to show those videos of the killer. Any parents of friends of the dead who happened to be watching were shown the angry face of the killer which is the last thing their loved ones saw. If they saw if they would have been forced to see a horror that they should have been spared.

Answer 7

I do not. The deaths in Iraq are equally tragic, but the Virginia Tech killings are inexplicable. That's why I do not feel the media is blowing them out of proportion. We know--without a doubt--there will be military and civilian deaths in a war. We do not expect a meaningless massacre on a college campus. We know why people are killed in a war. We do not know why these victims were chosen by Cho and the extremely unheard of two hour delay between killing sprees. I do not blame for media for this coverage. I question NBC's decision to run the video tape. I think that was a poor decision. Is the public's right to know, which is always the media's reason, of any important if the public doesn't WANT to know? Running the tape victimized the Virginia Tech students again. IF anyone wanted to see it, NBC could have posted in on line at nbc.com. Instead, they forced it upon us.

Answer 8

This was an isolated incident with victims who never saw it coming. 32 people were MURDERED by a fellow student without any warning at all. They were also killed all at once in a state and location people cannot accept as possible. Personally, I would rather hear about my own country's woes than anothers. Iraq, and the middle east, has been in some kind of war since the time of Jesus. I really don't care anymore. These people have been and will be killing themselves long after I am dead. Sorry, but the media pays attention to what is going to get them the ratings. Iraq, at least from the American's point of view, is no longer of any significance. Again, sorry!!!

Answer 9

Yes, to Americans an american life is worth more than a non-US life. It is the same with all nationalities. I currently work in South Korea and while this country is virtually in mourning since the scum that did the shooting was born in South Korea. Having said that I would like to give you a little of my background which I feel qualifies me to answer your question with a Yes that American lives are more important to Americans than a non-US life. I currently work in South Korea and have previously worked in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Japan, Venezuela, and England. Additionally, I have traveled extensively visiting over 30 countries. Without exception, all of the people that I have met in these countries value a life of their citizens above the life of foreigners.

Answer 10

I'm very sorry about the Virginia Tech shootings. I'm glad they are doing so much media stuff on it. We as a nation are very self-centered. I wish we would talk more about other countries as well. For example, my grandparents live in France, and they usually hear news stories about the US before we hear about it. They called the day of the Virginia Tech shootings to see if we had heard about it. We hadn't. They are always surprised when we don't know something about our country, or anyone else's country, and they do. I wish we covered more things about other places in the world.