New lows in tabloid "journaism"!

And this time it's going to get people killed.

The non stop coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre was bad enough but it did indeed reach new lows today.
Gunman sent package to NBC News

Sometime after he killed two people in a Virginia university dormitory but before he slaughtered 30 more in a classroom building, Cho Seung-Hui mailed NBC News a large package including photographs and videos Monday morning, boasting, “When the time came, I did it. I had to.”

Cho, 23, a senior English major at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, killed 32 people in two attacks before taking his own life.

And of course the network news and the cable tabloid networks are showing the pictures and videos with glee. If every nut case in the US wasn't already thinking I want to be like Cho they were after seeing his picture and words non stop on the TV screen. This is the kind of publicity many people like Cho are seeking when they take their own lives and the lives of others. Broadcasting the material contained in the package received by NBC is irresponsible. Of course these are the same networks that are cheerleaders for war because it's great for ratings. Expect to see copycat incidents as a result of this media attention.

Update
For once I have to have a little respect for NBC's Brian Willaims. According to the New York Times he was upset they broadcast as much as they did.

In an interview last night on MSNBC, Mr. Williams said NBC had been concerned about the sensitivities of broadcasting as much of the material as it did.

“This was a sick business tonight, going on the air with this,” he said.

via memeorandum