OPW — At some stage we all have to make integrity calls for the brands that we manage, and stand for. Brand = Trust. Trust is a long term thing. NBC made a short term gain today by releasing the Virginia Tech killer’s pictures that he had mailed to NBC on the day of his shooting rampage. NBC will have gained considerable traffic and revenues from doing as the killer had wished and sharing these ill-gotten images. Shouldn’t NBC have let the public know they had received images from the Virginia Tech killer, and duly destroyed them in honor of the victims, and denying Cho his fame after death? – Mark Brooks
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NBC Integrity Call
OPW — At some stage we all have to make integrity calls for the brands that we manage, and stand for. Brand = Trust. Trust is a long term thing. NBC made a short term gain today by releasing the Virginia Tech killer’s pictures that he had mailed to NBC on the day of his shooting rampage. NBC will have gained considerable traffic and revenues from doing as the killer had wished and sharing these ill-gotten images. Shouldn’t NBC have let the public know they had received images from the Virginia Tech killer, and duly destroyed them in honor of the victims, and denying Cho his fame after death? – Mark Brooks
1 thought on “NBC Integrity Call”
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You are not the only person to make this argument, and I continue to find it very odd. Cho was mentally ill, and it was that mental illness which caused him to both murder 32 people and to send his package to NBC. When someone says that those videos and pictures should never have been aired because “that’s what Cho wanted”, the implicit assumption is that Cho was evil and by carrying out his intent to air the material, we are abeting evil. But he was simply, devastatingly ill, and to speak of what he “wanted” while under the influence of that illness is like speaking of what cancer “wants” when it has killed someone.
Secondly, while I strongly believe that repeated airings of the material is harmful both to the survivors and to those who may be suffering similar illnesses, I see absolutely nothing wrong with broadcasting it initially. It served several constructive purposes to do so, not least to confirm to the survivors that Cho was not in his right mind.
You are not the only person to make this argument, and I continue to find it very odd. Cho was mentally ill, and it was that mental illness which caused him to both murder 32 people and to send his package to NBC. When someone says that those videos and pictures should never have been aired because “that’s what Cho wanted”, the implicit assumption is that Cho was evil and by carrying out his intent to air the material, we are abeting evil. But he was simply, devastatingly ill, and to speak of what he “wanted” while under the influence of that illness is like speaking of what cancer “wants” when it has killed someone.
Secondly, while I strongly believe that repeated airings of the material is harmful both to the survivors and to those who may be suffering similar illnesses, I see absolutely nothing wrong with broadcasting it initially. It served several constructive purposes to do so, not least to confirm to the survivors that Cho was not in his right mind.