The Virginia Tech Massacre . . .

The Virginia Tech shootings are all the rage, now . . . everyone of note has an opinion . . . everyone of no note is being interviewed by the media . . . it now appears to the writer that the media's mindless meddling is producing more useless information that simply adds to the work of the authorities who then have to try to see if there is any factual evidence or if it is simply media grandstanding, trying to assure that the public sees what a great job they, the media, are doing of ferreting out the facts!

Now, the media has decided to focus in on the school authorities in an effort to manufacture a sensation that proves that the school authorities failed to properly protect the students!

The school authorities should refuse to be interviewed, and should simply tell those nosy reporters who are only adding to the confusion that they must get their facts from the constituted authorities who are conducting the investigation.

But, no, everyone wants to be seen on national television, so that they can make a tape of the on-air interview to put in their memoirs, or to show to their friends to prove that they are an important part of the investigation, when they know nothing but what the media has already told them! The trouble is that much of what the media has been putting out is NOT FACT, but is simply hype to build their own image in the public's mnd!

Hearken back, you readers of a more advanced age, to the days of World War two, during which time the media was required to clear all releases with the government, and got no information that they could release without doing so! That is what is needed in the case of these investigations! There needs to be a central clearing agency who tells the media what they can say and what they cannot say! As it is, the media is causing confusion with their release of facts that should be kept confidential and of non-facts that should not be discussed openly, as well! Freedom of the Press has gotten out of hand, and is doing more to hamper the investigation than to convey truthful information to thepublic! How many times in similar situations have we found that the media was releasing information that could prove helpfull to the perpetrators, and that, therefore, should be kept in confidence and not published for all to see and hear?

It strikes me as patently evident that some control over the media must be exercised in order to keep important facts from being broadcast all over, to the advantage of the conspirators, and to the disadvantage of the investigative authorities! As it is, it seems that as soon as the investigative authorities interview someone in the hopes of getting a lead to the perpetrators, the media immediately collars that person and tries to get them to say something that the media can use to demonstate that the investigative authority missed something or failed to get an important fact! The media may then find out something that the authorities do not want made public, and mess of the entire investigation! The numbers of media persons working on this case far outnumbers those of the investigating authority that are available to solve the crime, and so, the media can then race ahead of the investigation, and inadvertantly tip off the guilty person(s) without even being aware that this is what they are doing!

What we have is mass confusion fostered by the media whose only interest is to get the jump on competition, a "scoop", to use the old expression!

It seems that the human animal rarely resists the urge to connive to foster his own self-interests at the expense of all other interested parties! Man is his own worst enemy! We will be lucky if we ever find the truth!

There needs to be a law passed to make it a crime for anyone to take any action that could be interpreted as interfering with the investigation of a crime while investigation is in process! Once the investigation has been completed, then the media can be allowed to report such information as will not adversely affect the prosecution of the parties guilty of the crime. After all, the successful prosecution of the perpetrators is the most important part of the investigation of any crime, and nothing should take precedence over that fact!

These investigations take time. None take so much time as the investigation of a crime after which the perpetrator then kills himself! He is no longer able to answer questions for the authorities, and so now they must make a list of all of his friends, relatives, and associates, and interview each of them to try togather facts as to whether more than a single person was involved in planning and executing the crime, an, if so, who were the others! Such investigations are usually conducted by a relatively small number of investigators, whereas the entire media community may have many more than a hundred persons out there, trying to ferret out the facts for themselves, and, inadvertently, tipping off the co-conspirators that such an investigation is going on!

Well, I've had my say . . . does anyone out there wish to challenge these remarks?