Media Backlash against NBC

NBC aired footage of the maniac from VA Tech. Now they are catching all kinds of *** for it.

I'm torn.

The messages were intense, and they were alarming. But, they were also news. I assume NBC had the blessing of law enforcement to air footage due to the ongoing investigations. I don't see what was gained by airing the footage, other than selling news, but I also do not see what the harm is in airing the footage, other than making some of us uncomfortable.

Cho was certainly a deranged individual, and he should have been committed to a mental hospital for his own good, not to mention the safety of the community. Having said that, how do we confine people like Cho and not confine people that ought not be confined? If Cho needed to be in a hospital despite his assertions to the contrary, how do we know when somebody that resists confinement in a hospital really deserves to be set free? It is a slippery slope, my friends. Either we lock up guys like Cho and ensnare a few innocent people in the same process, or we endanger society by not gathering up our sick and dangerous brethren.

I am reminded of an old Jack Nicholson movie, One Flew Over the Coo Coo's Nest. In the movie, Jack checked himself into the funny farm to hide from life for a while. He found himself stuck in a black hole from which there was no escape. There were mental patients there that were clearly better off on the inside, and society would do those people a huge disservice had they been turned loose -- we set about to turn them loose in the '70s sometime, and we failed them as a result. Clearly, we need mental hospitals for guys like Cho -- despite anything that Cho himself had to say on the topic. Some mental patients -- most, I think -- need the stability that a mental ward might provide, as opposed to the instability they find on the streets.

Cho was ordered to a mental hospital, and he sought and received outpatient care when there is little doubt that he should have been committed.

After all of the dust settles, if we can't figure out whom should be in mental hospitals and whom should be roaming the streets freely, we are destined to repeat this horrible experience. I think it is worthwhile to try and figure out how to fix the problem(s) associated with mental hospitals and getting people into them against their will, but I do not think it is worthwhile to point crooked fingers at the system in an attempt to place blame. It happened. It was horrible. We can pray it never happens again, but I think it will.

NBC had hard choices to make. Had they elected to not air the footage, they would be charged with becoming an arbiter that decides what we see. Had they shelved the footage, then they would be facing censorship charges today. They would still be on the losing end of bad press. Their job is to bring us the news, and they brought it. It was news when they brought it, but as an afterthought it was not a particularly good news story. But, NBC isn't burdened by deciding what is good news and what is bad, they only decide what is news and what isn't. Sometimes the decision is good and remains so, sometimes the decision is good when made but turns bad, and other times the decision is bad from the start. I think it was good and turned bad. It was always uncomfortable, but news can be that way.




.