You Can’t Please Everyone…

Since this week’s topic for the Social Role of the Mass Media class is a continuation of last week’s topic, handling sensitive issues, I thought I would make this blog post sort of a continuation of my topic last week, the shooting on the University of South Carolina campus.

I realized I hadn’t looked at any of the coverage done by the university’s student newspaper.  When I was a student there, The Gamecock came out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and may have been at most eight pages each predominately black-and-white issue.  Now The Daily Gamecock publishes daily and, of course, has an online presence, which put last week’s coverage at my fingertips.

Capstone House.  University of South Carolina.  Columbia, South Carolina.  1967.  
Modern style.  Photographed by Stephen Milligan (May 30, 2010). 

A special memorial edition of the newspaper was published last Friday, the day after the murder-suicide.  Also that morning, the Editor-in-Chief, Hannah Jeffrey, posted an editorial headlined “Letter from the Editor: Why you won't find individuals' names in Friday's paper.”

In the piece, Jeffrey explains the thought process behind the newspaper’s decision to not publish the names of the victim and the assailant that Friday morning since official word had not yet come from the Richland County Coroner (long after the paper’s press run). 

Exactly what we’ve been immersed in the past couple of weeks: Sensitivity.  Verification.  Transparency.  Maintaining credibility.  Time being the enemy of accuracy.  Informing the reader of editorial choices.

How professional of Jeffrey to explain the decision to the reader when so many rumors surely would have been traveling all over campus and Columbia.  Some of the posted comments agreed with her, applauding the decision for its good journalism and ethical standards.

Interestingly, though, a few of the comments harkened to this week’s other newsworthy topic: Brian Williams.  Some of the readers accused The Daily Gamecock staff of tooting its own horn and making the news about the staff instead of the murdered professor.

“You see, you can’t please everyone,” as Rick Nelson sang in “Garden Party.”

But Jeffrey did what she thought was right for her readers.

“So you’ve got to please yourself.”

Close to Home

Well, I wish this one hadn’t fallen into my lap.

Today at approximately 12:56 P.M., a shooting, an apparent murder-suicide, occurred at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, my alma mater and less than five miles from my house.

Detail.  McKissick Museum.  University of South Carolina.  
Columbia, South Carolina.  1939.  Works Progress Administration 
Romanesque style.  Photographed by Stephen Milligan (August 
15, 2009). 

Coincidentally, at about the same time, a car accident occurred just outside the building at the corner of Assembly and College streets (USC is an open, downtown campus), so among all of the confusion, the misinformation began to fly on social media.  According to WIS, Columbia’s NBC affiliate, rumors of the shooting’s nature and location were spread on social media: It was an active shooter situation.  It took place on the Horseshoe, the original part of campus.  At Russell House, the university union.  Even at the South Carolina State House, just blocks away.

WIS devoted all of its 5:00 and 5:30 news broadcasts to the event (with only a two-minute look at the weather) and much of its 6:00 broadcast.  The reporter on the scene, after discussing the inaccurate social media reports with the evening anchor, who had joined her there, then exhorted the audience to verify any information before sharing it on social media.

Details are still emerging as I listen to WIS’s 7:00 news report, most of which is devoted to the shooting, but I’ve already noticed a little time is being devoted to sports, weather, and traffic, but no other news has been reported.

Not only is this story close to home geographically, but it’s also close to home as far as the Social Role of Mass Media class goes.  Verification.  Erroneous Twitter reports.  Accuracy.  Completeness.  Sensitive issues.  All of these were topics of this week’s class readings.  And all of these issues are embodied in this story:

Verification?  The reporter chose the responsible route by asking the public to verify information before sharing on social media to minimize the spread of mistaken reports. 

Erroneous Twitter reports?  The rumors in those initial reports have been dispelled…but will probably be replaced by others. 

Completeness?  Obviously the story is incomplete at the moment, so much of the 7:00 news involved reiterating and discussing—no information about the two who died can be released until the Richland County coroner gives approval. 

Accuracy?  WIS is, for many, the best source of television news in the Midlands, so I’m sure accuracy is something each reporting team is striving for.

Sensitive issue?  Definitely.