So What Now?
President Obama told mourners at a vigil in Newtown, Connecticut last night, that the nation is failing to keeps its children safe. He pledged to seek change in memory of the 26 indiviudals, 20 between the ages of 5 and 6, who were killed Friday in the second deadliest shooting in U.S. history. I thought the President most profound moment is when he asked the nation “What choice do we have? Are we really prepared to say we’re powerless in the face of such carnage? That the politics are too hard.” The big question, of course, isexactly what can we do?
A good start is to ask our nation’s lawmakers to set their petty party loyalties aside and think long and hard about this one.
Media Taking Its Lumps
As expected, the media has provided constant coverage since the tragedy took place Friday. AS has happened in the past, there’s been a bunch of criticism as to how some are covering the story, particularly outlets that chose to interview some of the very young survivors of the mass shooting. On the day of the attack, some reporters were interviewing kids on the air which didn’t sit well with TIME’S James.
Poniewozik who wrote “There is no good journalistic reason to put a child at a mass murder scene on live TV, permission of the parents or not.” Tim Malloy of REUTERS wrote “It feels bizarre, exploitive and just plan stupid to put microphones in the faces of young witnesses, even if their parents agree to interviews in the moment.” Matt Lewis in THE WEEK really ripped into the TV networks for creating logos and theme music for these tragedies, saying their coverage gives the killers the attention and fame they craved. Malloy writing, “to be sure, a transparent society demands reporting newsworthy incidents, and this definitely qualifies. But it should be done responsibly. And that is not what we have witnessed. We have instead a feeding frenzy that is all about beating the competition, not disseminating information. The American public needed solemnity, grieving and thoughtful reflection. Our media gave it the exact opposite.”
SNL Chooses Wisely
Instead of the usual opening “funny” (sometimes) sketch, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE opened with the New York City Children’s Chorus singing Silent Night. When finished, the show faded to an instant of black before returning to the kids for the traditional line “Live from New York, its Saturday Night!” It was the show’s lone reference to the tragedy.
The kids retuned later to join musical guest Paul McCartney in singing “Wonderful Christmas Time.”
Clueless
My label for all the individuals who took to Twitter to complain about President Obama’s address to the people in Newtown Connecticut in person interrupting the Patrios-49ers Sunday night football game.
