ThinksMedia

NPR Journalist blames the internet for Fort Hood Massacre

Saturday, November 21, 2009

When tragedy strikes, human nature has us seek out a logical and predictable reason for an event that we desperately want to understand in order to feel a sense of control over the very chaos that has befallen us.  The desperation can often be heard in the families of victims, as the shattered comfort we all take in the day to day monotony of life feels like it has been ripped away, along with the loved ones they have lost.  It is this tenancy towards hyperbole that is the hallmark of so many sound bites we hear on the 24 hour news stations.   Those reporting on the news, must be held to a higher standard, and should be careful not to overreach for a scapegoat in an effort to sensationalize a story, that by its very nature needs nothing of the sort.

Daniel Schorr is a reporter for NPR, has published a story that has me scratching my own head, and asking why.  In this case, I am not asking why the tragedy occurred, but rather why a respected reporter would disrespect the memories of the victims with what I consider to be a sensationalistic premise.   In a headline asking the question: “Was Internet Complicit In Fort Hood Shooting?”, he has in once sentence taken the real story, and brushed it aside in favor of a a catchy headline.  We may as well ask if the invention of language in complicit as well, since if we couldn’t communicate at all the radical teaching of a fanatic would never be spread, not matter what the medium.

These types of weak efforts to make a story where there isn’t one is nothing new.  I have witnessed many instances of a reporter taking an isolated fact and running to length of near incomprehensible leaps of fuzzy logic in order to blame the current social ‘Bad Boy’.  In the 60’s it was Rock and Roll, the 80’s gave us Dungeons and Dragons, and certainly in the late 90’s there was a certain desire to vilify the internet.  We are now nearing the end of 2009 however, and while I would hope that an Emmy Award winning reporter would avoid these weak and simplified stereotypes no matter what the year, I have got to believe that Mr. Schorr has completely lost touch with the current world we live in to point the finger at the internet.  I must believe that is the case because the other explanation is that he knew he was writing sensationalistic drivel, and I would like to think, that is not the case.

Lets be clear, this tragedy is one that we will no doubt hear many theories on in the coming months, and anyone who says they know exactly what happened is likely a bit over confident in their own answers.  We can be very confident that, as with so many of these incidents, at its heart is one unstable personality who made several decisions, which in the end we want to understand so we can avoid this ever happening again.  I am confident there will be much finger pointing and maneuvering, but there is no perfect solution, there is no logical reason, and we must learn to accept that we cannot prevent every tragedy, but we have a much better chance of preventing them if we concentrate on the true causes…and leave the wild sensationalist statements to those we can forgive, and have empathy for, the friends and families trying to cope with a grief we all hope to never experience.  Reporters should stick to reporting.

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