MSNBC Editor Responds to Post on Glorifying Virginia Tech Shooter

I think this comment deserves highlighting. MSNBC concepts editor Jim Ray (more about Jim) posted this:

"And if we hadn't published, we'd be keeping vital information from millions of people, pundits, bloggers, Monday morning quarterbacks, etc., etc. And then there'd be some massive conspiracy theory from those same media bloggers / Monday morning QB's (same difference?) about how we were holding the story for some sort of competitive advantage blah blah. Damned if we do, damned if we don't. I can guarantee you that there was a thoughtful evaluation every single step of the way about how best to cooperate with the authorities, how best to treat this in a sensitive manner, how best to inform the public without "glorifying" this psychopath.

It's never easy when a media organization becomes part of the story, but we're not some monolithic block taking marching orders from our corporate overlords. There are real people making real decisions about how to handle these situations and I, for one, am proud of how we handled this one."

Jim, thanks for responding. I think your blog post yesterday reflects the gravitas with which MSNBC weighed the issues: "ABC News posted a screen grab of our site on their homepage today. Rock the meta!"

Did you guys spend like a whole hour debating this? From what I've heard on NPR today driving around down, NBC is now backtracking as fast as they can from this decision. They seem a little less proud of this then you do.

What you had is a psychotic serial killer relying on you to distribute his public relations materials. You guys gladly complied as fast as you could for the scoop. There was nothing responsible about this decision. It was reprehensible. The way you splayed his lead across your cover page made clear the impact that you were trying to have.

All you've done is reassure every off-balanced psycho in America that they can get the fame and attention they need if they just shoot a bunch of defenseless people and send you the video. Nice work! In this country, we shouldn't be glorifying mentally ill violent offenders. It's not a healthy feedback loop.

As for your dig against NewsCloud,: "It's unfortunate that we'll never know whether Newscloud would have made the same decision to withhold this sort of story from the literally *tens* of readers clamoring for "the news they need" every day." I'm glad to count you as one of our readers. But seriously, the NewsCloud model is much different ... NewsCloud readers have much more say over what appears at the top of our site and when it does. As NewsCloud grows, the decisions will be made by a community ... with less regard for profit and ratings than I would say that your team made its decisions yesterday.

Had you withheld publishing the materials for more time to consider the issues and present them in a more dignified fashion, I think you might have been able to fend off those who accused you of conspiring.

Here's a link to BoingBoing covering both sides of the issue.

Also, note to readers, I helped launch MSNBC.com in 1996 as an employee at Microsoft but I don't know Jim personally.

Technorati Tags: jim ray, msnbc, media reform, virginia tech shooter

Comments

[Jim Ray]

I'm certainly not going to get in to a pissing match over this with you, Jeff, except on one point: it's completely unfair to equate my screengrab/post yesterday as reflective of the "gravitas with which MSNBC weighed the issues." That's a cheap shot, you know it is, completely unrelated to the issue at hand and, frankly, small minded. But, the same could be said of my previous Newscloud dig, so fair's fair.

I continue to stand by how NBC News (in New York, I'm here in Seattle), MSNBC Cable and we at MSNBC.com handled the material. The police and FBI have both commended NBC news for their handling of the evidence. People are going to come down on both sides, praising the decision for offering the only true glimpse in to the mind of a sociopath that may act as warning signs in the future, and condemning the coverage for forcing victims and their families to live through this ordeal again. Journalism is all about balance, balance we almost certainly never get perfect, no matter how hard we try.

[Jeff]

Jim, thanks for the post. Moving forward, I think it's exciting to see such great discussion on the Web on issues concerning media responsibility. The engagement is inspiring.

[Jim Ray]

Ok, one more point...

I guess we should be thankful that Cho didn't send those CD's to Dave Winer?

I mean, which is it? Are we in the decentralized hyperpersonal mediascape of the FUTURE! where everyone is a journalist and all information wants to be free? Or do we continue to trust *real* journalists to be responsible with the information they present on the evening news?

(This is a false dichotomy, of course, and the answer is, obviously, something in between, but this just highlights the delicate nature of all of this. Would you be as up in arms if those photos had landed on Drudge? Or Smoking Gun? Or the New York Times? Or Newsvine?)

[E. Zane]

Jeff wrote:

"All you've done is reassure every off-balanced psycho in America that they can get the fame and attention they need if they just shoot a bunch of defenseless people and send you the video."

"What you had is a psychotic serial killer relying on you to distribute his public relations materials. You guys gladly complied as fast as you could for the scoop. There was nothing responsible about this decision. It was reprehensible."

Bingo!

I'm not in the media biz..I'm just a 'regular' person who is no longer an NBC viewer due to the way MS/NBC chose to handle this situation.

[David]

Jeff wrote: "...I think it's exciting to see such great discussion on the Web on issues concerning media responsibility. The engagement is inspiring."

Couldn't agree more.