PDN takes the lowest road

Philadelphia's murder rate and gun violence both continue to spiral out of control, yet The Philadelphia Daily News ran this cover this morning (well, by now, yesterday morning) - of Virginia Tech mass murderer Cho Seung-Hui. And people wonder why the death of newspapers has been a trend that has been marching steadily onward for decades.

I should be clear - I'm anything but a prude when it comes to media coverage, and I'm not calling for censorship. But what I am calling for is a bit of decency on the part of our mass media. People are fed up with being spoon fed this garbage, all for a few ratings points or to sell a few newspapers. We are supposed to be a civilized society; it's bad enough these events happen, but when they do, it would be nice if the mass media let the bodies go cold before swooping in for a ratings grab.

For instance, how many newspaper covers did we see with the following picture on the morning of September 12, 2001?

Damn few, if any. Why should this tragedy be any different?

[Quick aside - this world-famous picture, dubbed The Falling Man, was taken by AP photographer Richard Drew just as this man jumped out of one of the burning twin towers on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. The man chose a quick, instant death instead of one from smoke and flames.]

NBC and The Philadelphia Daily News chose dollars over decency.

Was the Daily News doing its due diligence, or pandering to sell papers? It's certainly a question worth asking. I think a newspaper cover like this shames the dead people who died at Virginia Tech, and is voyeuristic, exploitative and repulsive.

You be the judge.