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Update: I put together a montage of NBC’s plugs and teasers for the video <<-- here. They had over 9 spots promoting the video and manifesto in their first 30 minute newscast. This is my problem with the network. NBC definitely used the materials as a marketing ploy.

Original Story
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NBC received a package today that included a video and a “manifesto” from Virginia Tech Killer Seung Hui Cho.

Brian Williams will pimp the video for the next 15 minutes of its 30 minute broadcast; periodically jumping between this event, abortion-rights activists upset over today’s SCOTUS decision and of course the terrible news about the earlier killings in Iraq (complete with the anti-American blurb blaming America).

I’m a bit torn here. Everybody seeks to understand what causes a person like Cho to commit mass murder and perhaps this video and document will help. More likely though it will simply serve to give an audience to a sick killer. He railed against Christians and rich people and the release of the video seems like Cho won his quest to tell the world about his hate.

He was a mentally ill loner who managed to get his hands on a gun despite an “order of detention” that sent him to a mental health facility in response to a stalking complaint by a female student on campus.

If anyone doubts that NBC is using this to up their ratings all you need to understand is that they started the news with it, pimped it through two different commercial breaks, and will finish out the end of the broadcast with what will likely be a small sampling. “Be sure to tune into NBC over the next couple of days for periodic updates” should be the banner.

Update: As expected, NBC will have more at it’s 6:00 broadcast and continue with more tomorrow morning.

Update II: Don’t get me wrong here; I think the video and manifesto are newsworthy. I just think there are perhaps better ways to handle their release. I am opposed to the piecemeal release that NBC is already subjecting us to. It seems to me that NBC will be making this the story as opposed to the tragic and needless death of the innocent victims of Cho.

I truly want to understand what may have triggered the planned methodical killing but I don’t want to do anything that would validate his actions. He was clearly mentally ill and the signs were there for many to see.

In my mind this guy shouldn’t have been able to stay on campus after the stalking events. Yes I know there weren’t any charges but the combo of multiple complaints, a reported fire that he set in his dorm room and the detention order that sent him to a mental hospital should have been enough to get him kicked off campus.

I’m not even sure where the law stands on allowing a mentally ill individual to legally buy handguns. Especially when a person has an order of detention in response to stalking. Can they be cured? Should they be trusted? I suppose it all depends on guilt and in this case no charges were filed.

Tough questions; no good answers.

Update III: Captain Ed is on track with my sentiments.

I agree with Stephen and Ed D that the manner in which NBC incorporated the photos into a graphics image for the story is in poor taste. I believe Stephen makes the point that the shot almost looks like a movie poster, and its use slides over the line from reporting to exploitation. I’d also criticize the manner in which NBC apparently decided to split its publication between the Nightly News program tonight and Today tomorrow. It looks like an obvious ploy for ratings, and it’s rather unseemly, given the deadly circumstances of the story.

However, NBC was correct to report the contents of the package. In most circumstances, society is served better by the free dissemination of information, unless its release would put directly put lives in danger — like, say, exposing national-security programs that had stopped terrorists from killing Americans. In this case, the crime has already been committed and the perpetrator is dead. Holding back the material would boost all sorts of rumors about Cho’s involvement in any number of conspiracies, including radical Islam, that are already the subject of much speculation.

NBC made the right decision to go public, and to work with law enforcement to determine which material to release at the time, as they apparently did. They unfortunately overshadowed that correct decision with the very incorrect decision on marketing the materials.

See Also: Ed Driscoll.com, MSNBC.Com: Whoring For Hits

Update IV: It appears that a massive debate is underway about the appropriateness of the NBC release of the video and manifesto. As expected people are all over the map on this issue.

I seem to remember the same sort of discussion surrounding the publication of Ted Kaczynski’s unabomber manifesto; an act that eventually led to Kaczynski’s arrest after his brother recognized the style of writing and contacted the FBI. It is interesting to note that the personal items seized at Kaczynski’s home, including his writings, will soon be up for sale. However the judge that cleared the items for auction specifically required that certain things be omitted or obliterated; specifically references to bomb making instructions and personal information about the unabomber’s victims. Kaczynski is challenging the judges ruling as a first amendment issue to keep his written works in whole.

I surmise that people like Kaczynski do get a personal pleasure from the unabridged delivery of their message; and as such it is sort of a glorification – even if the writings and videos are released posthumously.

Xeni Jardin at boing boing points out two opposing views on the subject.

NBC is receiving criticism from some corners for airing Cho’s martyr video. But they’re receiving criticism from others for not releasing more of it, more directly and with less drama, online. Dave Winer says,

NBC has a dozen Quicktime videos of the Virginia Tech killer. They’re sifting through them and deciding what to release and what not to release. This is wrong. It’s 2007, and it’s a decentralized world. We should all get a chance to see what’s on those videos. Given enough time the focus will go on their process, much better to just let it all out now, with no editorial judgement.

Dave points to thoughts on that same subject by Doc Searls:

Cho sent those recordings to a major broadcast network. Not to the police, not to other individuals. (Far as we know.) Clearly he wanted his recordings broadcast — after the deeds were done, and he was dead as well.

We don’t know if he thought about uploading them to YouTube. But, since he planned to fill the rest of his morning with murder, it’s likely that he didn’t want to post his plans on the Live Web — where somebody might see it and get authorities to stop him. So he opted instead for snail mail and a big bang later on the small screen. YouTube would come, inevitably, later.

From what I gather, the police have seen and cleared the recordings for disclosure. So, presumably, there is no reason to protect anybody (for example, individuals Cho may have targeted for murder) other than broadcast viewers. (This is required by law, fwiw.)

So I think Dave is right. If there is nothing to hide here, other than obscenities that cannot be broadcast on TV or radio, there is no reason why NBC should withhold the recordings other than the belief that they own them, and hold them as property. That’s their right; but it does not help the rest of us get clues that might help prevent another tragedy like this one.

And this tragedy isn’t just about Cho and NBC. It’s about the rest of us.

So I agree with Dave. More eyes will make the this bug shallower. It may save lives. Even if we see a zillion mashups of the original video, which we’ll see eventually anyway.

Like I said earlier, it is a tough call. My only real problem is with the piecemeal releases that have been eeking out. If the others are right and the police have cleared the release then there is no reason for NBC to slowly disseminate the information one tidbit at a time. I can’t imagine that there is so much material that the staffers at NBC can’t sift through it in a reasonably quick amount of time and come up with some sort of reasonable way to release the information. Who knows, perhaps they already have this plan in the works. It just seems to me that NBC was playing it up a bit; especially with all the teasers.

Others: Hot Air, Captains Quarters, Sister Toldjah, Conservative Times, Right Voices, Riehl World View, Michelle Malkin, 186K Per Second

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