This post is not going to be about the usual problems with mainstream media, I'm sure many of us know by now that they will do anything for more views than their competitors without caring if it's fake news or not. This is about the lengths that some go to just to bring in a new "hot" story that is potentially graphic and they know brings in a lot of attention. Now I don't want to blame the people who do the work, as they're employed and just doing what they need to do to maintain that job and make a living off of it, but it is becoming pretty disgusting seeing things like these.
I stumbled upon a video through reddit recently that linked to Twitter where there was a fight happening which resulted in the guy getting beat up pulling out his gun and started shooting. The video is not that graphic and you can't really see if he missed or not, but if you want to check it out here is the tweet:
https://twitter.com/mo_melchor/status/1208467161502515200
- mo_melchor
What I want to bring to attention though is this part in the tweet:
It's like vultures waiting for the next feast. They know that these kind of scenes bring in the most viewers and their bosses probably have them search through the internet for the next fix. It's just kind of sad in my opinion seeing the way people behave and what they decide to show in their "news". Reminds me of the times when some really big shootings happen and the media trying to one up eachother and keep their viewers with them keep bringing attention to things they really shouldn't such as the amount of lives lost and injured. "18 dead and 50 wounded" written in big letters as the main title to news segments and then a whole backstory of the killer and his name everywhere. Imagine how fucked up that is, now imagine if you knew one of the victims and how that would make you feel.
Oh, your husband died in that attack? Here's the killers face in every news channel and magazine for the next couple weeks until the next attack, enjoy!
It's really disgusting, reminds me of the story of that one sheriff that asked media not to name a school shooter because it is in some way enabling these deranged people to "go out swinging", i.e. wanting to become infamous before they die and attempting to do as much damage as the last one did. Why wouldn't they when that's what the media focuses on, it's becoming like this sick leaderboard.
I actually found the article I had in mind if you want to read it, it is definitely worth a read: (warning: you have to pause adblocker to be able to read the article) https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/10/02/media-please-ignore-oregon-sheriffs-appeal-never-to-mention-shooters-name/
but here are some quotes and tweets from it:
Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin yesterday issued a direct request to the media yesterday following the mass killing at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore. “I will not name the shooter. I will not give him the credit he probably sought prior to this horrific and cowardly act. … We would encourage media and the community to avoid using [the name]. We encourage you to not repeat it. We encourage you not to glorify and create sensationalism for him.”
Here's a tweet about it where someone says naming should be done but sparingly
Although I realize that this article and the shooting in question happened a long time ago, I don't see this having gotten better in recent years. Media is still pushing the buttons to see what they can get away with, because there's little that they can't while at the same time just trying to one up each other in how much "info" they have and how fast their reporters can get that info for their "exclusives" and "only on X" as if it's a great feat to be the first to ask someone permission to view their video they posted on social media.
I remember this case where there was a school shooting and a kid who was hiding in classrooms during the shooting posted about it on twitter or facebook and a "journalist" started blasting him with questions like "how many are dead?", "who is the shooter, do you know him?", etc. The comments in that thread were something like "dude, it's still ongoing, back the fuck off" but it gives you a sense of how these vultures have no limits.
I guess it's just a consequence of a bigger problem. We're seeing newsletters die off, tv die off and everyone moving onto the internets so these news agencies have to adapt, some are doing a good job at it while others are having to pull a few dirty strings to remain relevant.
Ugh, I hate what the internet is becoming. I hope the new one won't make the same mistakes.
