Originally Posted by RickyD
Originally Posted by MacLorry
I don't like Kerry, but he's right on this one, and not just for terrorism, but mass shootings as well. Not calling for a news blackout, but the media in this country bemoans and wails in the aftermath of an attack on a scale the world has seldom seen. In the meantime, more people die in traffic accidents during the first days after such an attack with little notice.

In a fight with another person you don't want to make victim noises as they motivate and encourage your opponent. The same is true for a nation. The media should report the facts, but avoid wall to wall coverage of every detail and every weeping person they can find as doing so actually glorifies the effectiveness of the attackers in the warped minds of those who want to do the same. The result is you get more attacks.
Maybe you didn't read all of what Kerry said. His last line was. "People wouldn't know what's going on". And that is his purpose: essentially censure. Censure is never right, particularly when people are being murdered, often in mass.

I'll agree that the media does not cover anything like this well, mostly because their journalism and journalistic ethics simply suck. And it always comes around to blaming the gun. But it has to be reported. Just better, but that may well be a bridge too far for the New Pravda.


During WW2 the Japanese launched thousands of balloons that carried incendiary bombs designed set the forests of the west coast on fire. Few made it across the Pacific, but they were enough of a threat that the U.S. Government put a news blackout on these incidents least it encourage the Japanese to launch even more balloons.

Not possible to black out the news in such a way today, but there is precedents where the public good is served by limiting the public's right to know. In that same vein, limiting the media's over-the-top-wailing for days would serve the public interest well.