Va Tech shooting may have been the biggest United States story of
2007, but it was also one of the worst covered by the Wa****ngton Post,
the Richmond Times Dispatch, and the Roanoke Times World News.
Compared to Europeans, American Journalists give the appearance of
being fundamentally unsophisticated, at least in the coverage of a
tragedy dripping with clues about government corruption and
incompetence.
Times Dispatch editor Glenn Proctor, Roanoke Times Editor Carole
Tarrant. and Wa****ngton Post Editor Leonard Downie, Jr. had zero
coverage of the breakdown of quality control at the New River Valley
Community Services Board, which was responsible for Cho's examination
in 2005.
They didn't print the names of the Board Members.
They didn't print the name of the Chair of New River Valley Community
Services Board or do any in depth interview with him, or any in depth
inter view with Lynn Chenault who was the Executive Director in 2005.
Likewise, Victoria Cochran and the Virginia STATE Mental Health Board
pretty much got a pass from the Media. No one asked that Board why in
the 6 months after the Virginia Tech Shooting there was no mention of
Quality Control on that Board in their meeting minutes and no mention
of Quality Assurance.
ANY High School or College Newspaper Editor could have done most of
the things that Tarrant, Downie, and Proctor did.
Get the name of the shooter. Get some photos. Interview the
survivors or their families or loved ones. Interview Cho's roommates,
classmates, people who knew him in High School. Big Deal. Journalism
101.
Everyone admits - this story was huge. There was a worldwide market
hungry for information about where the breakdown happened in the
Virginia Public Mental Health System. The information was all
available right out in front of Proctor, Tarrant, and Downie - meeting
minutes, supposed quality audits, mission statements and promises.
But Proctor, Tarrant, and Downie were all either too lazy, too biased,
or simply too uninformed to as journalists to do a complete
investigation of the breakdown in quality control in the Virginia
Mental Health System.
They blew it. The story could have and should have been investigated
properly, and it wasn't.
Journalism Students and Journalism Professors everywhere should be
asking Richmond Times Dispatch editor Glenn Proctor, Roanoke Times
Editor Carole Tarrant. and Wa****ngton Post Editor Leonard Downie, Jr.
what their motivation was to run a blocking offense for the troubled
Virginia Public Mental Health System, and why they had zero coverage
of the tragic breakdown of Quality Control resulting in 32 deaths, in
the "Biggest Story of 2007".
Again, "Biggest Story" certainly does not mean "Best Covered". Shame
on Proctor, Tarrant, and Downie.
Want more proof. Google "DMHMRSAS" (Virginia Department of Mental
Health, Mental Retardations, and Substance Abuse) under Google News.
Zero hits.
Numbers don't lie.
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