The killings of a television reporter and videographer on live TV in Virginia were such a product of new media that it seemed the entire experience would create a virtual black hole and then be swallowed by it.
Within hours of the killings, TV news people were posting selfies showing them and their videographers to "honor" the victim.
That was the quintessential clue to the meaning of all of it. Show a picture of yourself on "social" media to honor two peers who were murdered on live TV by a fired, crazed TV reporter. The perfect TV News memorial, all style, no substance.
And the murderer pushed all the media buttons too, from taping the actual killings and posting the video to Facebook, to leaving a collection of pictures of himself for the media to use in reporting his crimes.
One part of a column/report (and isn't that appropriate?) in The Washington Post by Joel Achenbach "(who) writes on science and politics for the Post's national desk and on the "Achenblog":
The Washington Post"Gone are the days when a news organization could function as a gatekeeper, and its editors could hold a meeting to decide whether to publish something disturbing. When a Pennsylvania official, Budd Dwyer, shot and killed himself at a news conference in 1987, the gatekeepers could decide how they wanted to handle the footage and photography. Today, such images would be instantly circulated on social media.
If there was one encouraging development Wednesday, it was the decision by news organizations such as CNN, Fox and MSNBC to show restraint in showing the television station’s video of the shooting, and the action by Twitter and Facebook to remove the killer’s video from their sites."
Viewers: Filter Thy selves.
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