Virginia Tech Coverage

When I first heard about the shootings at Virginia Tech, I was driving to my 3pm class, Memory and Cognition. It was the only class I had that day, so I was out of touch with the world, my brain was in psychology mode, not in my journalism mode. The weird thing was, I was actually listening to the radio and not my iPod. After I heard the news, I immediately wanted to rush to my lap top and look at all the news outlets, blogs and multimedia packages. I also had a sense of urgency to write my own thoughts and reactions to the event on this blog. Unfortunately I never quite made it around to doing it on my own, that’s why I was rather excited about Prof Stevens giving us this assignment.

As I watched the events unfold and heard and saw the major role the Internet played in the development of this story, I wasn’t that surprised. I was actually disappointed I didn’t first hear about it through the web. It was fascinating to see the role that blogging played as that horrible day unfolded. There were rumors of media students barricaded in a classroom blogging while the events occurred. There were major news outlets such as The New York Times linking to the Virginia Tech newspaper run by students. This was convergent media at its best.

I recently discovered the power and magic of blogging due to Prof Stevens, so in the aftermath of the shooting, my curiosity was not in how CNN or FOX News covered the story, to me that would be rather predictable. I was concerned with the students my age, their reactions, story telling and emotions.

So, I found this page done by the Washington Post where they have rounded up most of the blogs done by Virgina Tech students since the incident, and its just fascinating to read the entries. They range from fear to anger to hope.

This one grad student, "silvertongue1" used her blog to tell her family and friends she was safe. The immediacy of the Internet is just so important in instances such as this. All she needed was her computer and an Internet connection and boom, her family was at ease about her safety. She was able to publicly document her safety and reactions to the event. In her blog she tells of the scary events occurring outside her window and says she can hear the messages over the weather loudspeaker telling her to remain indoors. The neat thing is as she writes her blog she refers to watching CNN and recognizing the pictures being shown.
"I know the places they're showing on TV. It's just surreal. Blacksburg is 'the country.' Things like this just shouldn't happen here."

Another student, "aciel" expressed in his online journal his concern for his two friends who were uncounted for. He explained he had just attended a sorority function with his friend, Maxine the preceding Friday night and she had German class that morning in Norris. One of the classrooms with many deaths. He wrote about her mom searching for her daughter in the hospital and not finding her. This just hits me as so real, so raw. Here is a student using his blog to gather information on the whereabouts of his friends.

I know there is a huge debate on blogs as real journalism or just amateur reporting and writing. Journalism is balanced reporting of the facts, no biases, no slants, just facts. Yet this type of Journalism is dying. That's why ratings are at an all time low for networks. That's why Katie Couric was brought to the nightly news, to boost ratings, but guess what, its not working!

Viewers like emotions, debates and opinions along with the facts. That is why shows such as The View and all the many political talk shows are surviving. They offer excitement, arguments and facts. Therefore, blogs which offer opinions along with emotions, facts and reactions can be seen as a news outlet. I feel that the Virgina Tech shootings will help push blogs into the public eye as an important medium for the exchange of facts, questions, opinions and answers.

Now don't get me wrong, I completely understand that many bloggers can lie, exaggerate and not give all the facts. There are no regulations to blogging and I feel that will soon change, at least blogging connected to the exchange of newsworthy events. But before that does happen, as a fellow reader and blogger just be aware of the publisher. I know I take great pride in what I write and publish and I hope others feel the same way.

So, to all you fellow bloggers, please keep writing but with honesty, integrity, wit, charm and caution.

Nicholas Kristoff visits SMU

On Tuesday Nicholas Kristoff from the New York Times came to SMU to share with us his on-going coverage of the genocide occurring in Darfur right now as I type this blog. When I first saw him, he looked just like any other Caucasian middle-aged male reporter but as soon as he began to speak, I noticed a fire in his eyes for the people of Darfur. I noticed he has charisma and a talent to go into the middle of no where and get complete strangers to tell him the atrocious things they have endured.

As he showed us picture after picture, and told us story after story, I realized we as the media of the US are not paying much lip service to this crisis. Kristoff did commend college students to being the most passionate and helpful in ending and aiding Darfur, but until the national media gets a true hold on this and stops the obsession with Anna Nicole Smith, thousands of people will keep dying while we await paternity tests.

Granted, the Bush administration is doing more than Clinton ever thought of doing. We have given about $2 million dollars in relief aid, but does this stop the killings and rapes of the innocent? No, we're just providing a band-aid to a wound so deep we haven't begun to understand.

One thing Kristoff said that hit me about the relief we offer is, we can keep handing out food and plastic blankets but in the grand scheme of this genocide it seems "incredibly hallow."

Throughout our history, we as a country have offered aid in many genocides, but we as the media have done little to give it the exposure it deserves. First with the Holocaust, then with Rowanda, and now with Darfur, our media coverage is minimal and the media has the potential to apply the pressures needed to the leaders of our nation and other nations to stop these awful killings and torture.

Kristoff said that each time our media has given coverage to Darfur, the killings decrease and once we turn our eyes to another topic, they increase once again. So, whats a good solution? Cover the raped women, tell the stories of their husbands deaths, and show the orphaned children, and then maybe, this will stop.

I, too, have begun to do my part. After the lecture, I watched as many of Kristoff's multimedia packages given on the New York Times Website. And, I am embarrassed to say that this was the first time I ever saw anything of the sort.

The packages were real. They were raw, filled with natural sounds, hard cuts, close-ups with shaky zooms and pans, but they did more than any smooth, pretty, edited piece I have on broadcast TV news, and that's hard for me to say because my heart lies with broadcast news. But these packages took me into Darfur, they took me into Pakistan, I met women accomplishing extraordinary things against impossible odds. I got teary eyed, and believe me, I don't like to cry.

I was blown away at the power of the Internet and the convergence of media. Until now, I guess I didn't really see it, or maybe I didn't want to see it, but now I do.

These stories had endless possibilities, they could go on as long as needed to tell the story and kept me wanting more. There were no commercial breaks, teases, and headlines; I got exactly what I wanted immediately. The imaged were real and raw, with no need to worry about television restraints and the script was true. Kristoff could say all he wanted without the barriers of TV language. He could even send his own message to the officials of Pakistan to beware, because he was watching their moves. That is journalism with a message, a purpose, a need to continue coverage, which is what every good journalist should strive for.