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There's a fine line here when covering these kind of stories. Newschannels get stuck in the moment...trying to fill lots of airtime with what little info they have...and then when they get info, to rush it out and keep hamemring it. Yes, if you're watching 24/7, it's gonna burn...but not everyone is watching that way.
Yes, there are other things going on, but they don't make "good television". This is a visual medium that people tend to mistake for sensational. It's ideal for presenting a tragedy like VT, where issues like the USA scandals or health care crisis can't be so easily shown or keep people's attention. Regarding Iraq, do we need to constantly show exploding markets and carnage to "balance" the coverage? I sure heard about all the dead yesterday in Iraq and I read daily of the deteriorating situation. While CNN may not devote the coverage you want, there are many other sources now...and many people have found that out...that's why you're here, why I'm here.
The Columbine coverage was way more over the top than this. They kept rerunning the video of the kids fleeing the building, kept showing mouring families and went into detail on as many of the murders as they could. Atop that, they rushed in a special graphic and music package. While The VT story dominates the coverage, it was nowhere near the wall-to-wall we got in the wake of Columbine...CNN and MSNBC did go back to their regular programming and have discussed other news items.
This is the byproduct of living in interesting times...
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