Not that the tiny speck of a country I live in is any example, but as soon as it was confirmed that Cleopatra Borel-Brown, a Trinidadian assistant coach who works at VA Tech, was safe, the story disappeared from the pages of our newspapers, and thoughts turned once again to local and regional concerns. As far as I can remember, the bulk of the blog coverage we’ve seen so far on Global Voices has been primarily from the “affected” regions, plus of course China, because the shooter was initially reported to be Chinese. Nothing so far from Latin America, Africa etc.

Though of course I could be wrong.

Someone wears funny shoes, because it is hard to gather information on all shoes someone else follows. Soon the shoes are everywhere and no longer funny. Once everyone has those shoes the crowd knows enough about them and some other fad slides in.

Is news just a fad at hyper speed?

I apologize in advance if this sounds cynical or cold-hearted, but we need stories like the Don Imus controversy and even the VT school shooting because they give us something to talk about.

Keen observation. I still think the old, if-it-bleeds-it-leads maxim works, but interesting that these days there’s plenty of bloodshed around the world to report… yet we talk about the stuff that’s easy for the hens on The View and The Today Show to opine about.

Mainstream media’s still setting the tone and agenda, to be sure.

I think the reason one song/artist/film becomes “better” than others is 90% a matter of the advertising budget (aren’t our tastes defined by successes from the past?). The purpose (business model) of mass media is to convey advertisers’ messages. And now that the news media at large (few exceptions like PBS/NPR/GV) are commercial ventures — the LA Times for example — it’s all about ratings affecting advertising dollars and the public eating it up as if the news broadcast was organized by God.

We’re told what to like by the corporate dollar. Which is what is so exciting about this online free-for-all. But again, the channels with the big budgets advertise websites that end up getting all the visits. ‘Round and ’round it goes…

Your objectively wrong about Borat, btw. That shit is hilarious. Now return my calls.

I know the news anchors are not equipped with the appropriate skill set to discuss the impact of the images they are airing. I would prefer to see the video discussed by experts in the field of psychology or psychiatry.

Assembling an expert panel to discuss, the implications of the video and the effect it could have on the Asian community in the U.S. (because we are notorious in terms of ignorant backlash), and the public viewing it would be responsible journalism.

If as Tim Goodman wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle on 4/19 NBC has ushered in a new era of multimedia in news reporting: I hope that the new era will include discussion by the experts, preferably an assembled panel of diverse experts.

Aside: One of the first media comments I heard was that they didn’t believe that thses actions were “terrorist related”. Now who hears about someone going into an American institution shooting people and then immediately thinks, “I wonder if it was terrorists?” That would be like hearing of an airplane bombing and thinking, “I wonder if that was an alienated and mentally ill student?” The comment, however, makes us realize that a terrorist could in fact do this.

As to the global reach of the story, it illustrates the fallibility of the US. These things keep happening and people wonder why.

I am not sure whether we “need” these stories because they give us soemthing to talk about. I believe they emerge because they reveal the imperfections (or the rotting and disintegrating core) of our society. But rather than using them as an opportunity to address the broader social issues, we get lost in the minutiae of the case itself to the point where we get sick of it and move on all together without having done anything at all.

One thing that’s missing is the burning questions about Cho Seung-Hui. No one ever wonders what the intentions are of a suicide bomber. This misfit is a product of America, and that’s why (IMHO) it’s getting probed apart.