Are you in the game?
In his post below (Disgusting Profession), Saurus expresses justified outrage at the decision of NBC News to broadcast this nutcase/depraved killer's advertisement.
I think I understand the mindset of the press.
Recall when Mike Wallace jumped on Peter Jennings when Jennings said he would warn American troops about an ambush. Wallace said you have to be a reporter first, a disinterested observer and note (or video) taker. (See video here.)
The problem here is the press actually thinks it is possible for them to be "outside observers" or if they don't think this, they think they need to pretend it is possible to be outside observers. They willfully put on blindfolds to the fact that they are part of the game. People do things precisely because of the press coverage. The press can't simply observe events and report on them because the events themselves depend on the coverage.
Spree killers and coverage are but one example. The more prominent example is their coverage of the war. Most of the reason Al Qaida in Iraq does what it does is to get the press coverage.
Those in the press put on this blindfold because they don't like the implication that they are part of the game. They would prefer a world where they just report the facts and the facts don't change because they report them. So they adopt a morality for the world as they want it to be, not the world as it actually is. But this itself is immoral. We have a moral duty to operate in the world we are actually in.
I think I understand the mindset of the press.
Recall when Mike Wallace jumped on Peter Jennings when Jennings said he would warn American troops about an ambush. Wallace said you have to be a reporter first, a disinterested observer and note (or video) taker. (See video here.)
The problem here is the press actually thinks it is possible for them to be "outside observers" or if they don't think this, they think they need to pretend it is possible to be outside observers. They willfully put on blindfolds to the fact that they are part of the game. People do things precisely because of the press coverage. The press can't simply observe events and report on them because the events themselves depend on the coverage.
Spree killers and coverage are but one example. The more prominent example is their coverage of the war. Most of the reason Al Qaida in Iraq does what it does is to get the press coverage.
Those in the press put on this blindfold because they don't like the implication that they are part of the game. They would prefer a world where they just report the facts and the facts don't change because they report them. So they adopt a morality for the world as they want it to be, not the world as it actually is. But this itself is immoral. We have a moral duty to operate in the world we are actually in.
posted by Harsh Pencil | 4/19/2007 10:42:00 AM
Apparently families of some of the victims are cancelling interviews with NBC.
I think this is a mistake. These relatives should go on to NBC LIVE to tell them how despicable it was for NBC to publish the killer's manifesto. They need to tell Brian Williams to his face.
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