by Bob Walsh
It seems to me that there are times when much of the media feels that they are not part of the real world. They feel free, even obliged at times, to comment, poke and prod, sometimes inappropriately. They believe, maybe with some justification, that their freedom to publish gives them freedom to be a pain in the butt.
Yesterday some local yahoo who had a beef with a paper in Annapolis, MD showed up with a shotgun. He left five people dead in his wake and two slightly injured. The cops showed up almost immediately and the chickenshit bastard promptly surrendered. The people in the newsroom had no ability to defend themselves but were left cowering under desks and hoping to not be noticed. Sometimes it worked.
The other media vultures of course were fascinated. Among other questions I heard posed was one reporter absolutely DEMANDING to know if the gun was a warm-and-fuzzy sporting shotgun or an evil tactical shotgun.
I wonder of those staff who survived their ordeal will become better reporters, and better human beings, for having their own mortality and humanity pushed into their faces, or not? If nothing else I expect that physical security will increase in newspaper offices across the country. And they will likely take threatening emails from local looney tunes more seriously.
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