Putting Hope Back Into the Media

By Suzanne Higgs

As a budding journalist, I found the national media's behavior last April at best disappointing and in some instances downright shameful. Not only did they completely attack our campus and make it nearly impossible to get around campus or Blacksburg without being accosted, many were completely rude or just pushed too hard.

I remember several instances that made me sick to my stomach. During the candlelight vigil on the Drillfield the day after the shootings, four photographers snapped picture after picture of me because I was standing with someone in the Corps of Cadets. We, of course, weren't the only ones. Anyone with tears in their eyes had a camera in their face. Also during the vigil, the media presence was so thick around the makeshift memorial that many students couldn't even get close enough to see it. I remember thinking that the moment was supposed to be for us and not for them; it was our time of grieving, and they had intruded upon that. At one point, a cameraman stood right in front of me, blocking my view. I was so angry I asked him to move.

A week later, during another ceremony on the Drillfield in which white balloons were released for each of the 32 victims, the moment of silence was nothing but silent. The continuous clicking of shutters filled the moment, cheapening it in some ways.

Eventually, the university posted signs around campus saying that the media were no longer allowed to enter dorms or academic buildings and asking for them to respect our community. But the signs went up too late. By that time, most of the media had left already. The damage was done.

This year, it seems the university will try to exert more control over the media presence. In guidelines for the press coverage, the university requests that reporters not interview participants of the day's various ceremonies during those events and "avoid up-close contact with them." Norris Hall, where the majority of the victims were killed, will be closed to the press and the general public that day.

I don't anticipate that the media presence this year will be near what it was last year. I'm sure there will be coverage, especially after the NIU shooting in February. But I hope that the media will show much more respect for our students and the families who are grieving

I am putting hope back into the national media this year: I hope they don't break my heart again.

By Amy L. Kovac |  April 15, 2008; 11:48 AM ET  | Category:  Suzanne Higgs
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