Students at Virginia Tech have objected to the widespread media coverage given to the videos, photographs and writings made by Cho Seung Hui in the days before and during Monday's massacre at the university, in which he killed 32 people and then himself.
Planet Blacksburg, a news website maintained by students, announced last night that it would no longer publish Cho's name, while others complained that the repeated airings of his rambling accusations against the university's "brats" and "debaucheries" only gave the killer precisely the fame he desired.
They noted that Cho's stated admiration for Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the teenagers of the Columbine high school murders in 1999, demonstrated the copycat nature of American campus shootings and suggested that publicity for the Virginia Tech killer would not help prevent a crime happening elsewhere.
In an editor's note above a story about Cho's high school, Westfield High in Chantilly, Virginia, where two of his victims also went to school, Planet Blacksburg stated: "This is one of the final articles planetblacksburg.com will publish in regards to Cho Seung Hui."
"He has dishonored the special community that is Virginia Tech. After Wednesday, April 18, 2007, his name will not be mentioned again by this student media organization."
A blog maintained by Andrew Mager, a student journalist for the website, showed a screenshot of the MSNBC news website, which carried sections of videos made by Cho and several photographs, with the caption: "MSNBC Gives Killer Exactly What He Wants," and wrote underneath: "Terrible, despicable, dishonorable? Why does the mainstream media sensationalize this?"
Last night NBC showed edited extracts of what it described as Cho's "multimedia manifesto", sent to the broadcaster at 9.01am on Monday morning, after Cho had killed two people but shortly before he went on the deadlier spree that cost the lives of 30 more. Reports from Blacksburg, Virginia, described mixed reactions from students watching the images and hearing his words for the first time.
“I saw his picture on TV and when I did I just got chills,” said Kristy Venning, a third year student at the university, told AP. “There’s really no words. It shows he put so much thought into this and I think it’s sick.”
Meanwhile, at Rivermill, a downtown restaurant, customers were reported to have asked staff to turn off the news to guard their children from the images. “We turn her face away from the TV; to shield her as much as possible from news of the shootings," said Teresa McCartny of Blacksburg as she prevented her nine-year-old daughter from seeing the screen.
Planet Blacksburg's editorial stance drew support in comments left on the site. Anthony Greene, who identified himself as 1989 graduate of Virginia Tech, wrote: "Thank you for taking this stand against giving this sad and lost individual any additional attention. It is obvious that is what he hoped would happen."
Although some readers said that every effort should be made to understand Cho's motives and personality in order to prevent another tragedy. "What has happened is horrendous and heart-breaking, but we need to understand as a world-wide community what exactly led this troubled, and probably insane young lad to perpetrate these despicable acts," wrote K. Tweedale.
"There are other people out there in all our communities just like him, and we can't afford to turn our backs, no matter how painful."
A student newspaper at Ohio State University also voiced its disapproval of the Cho broadcast. Writing for U-Weekly, described as the campus's independent newspaper, Corey Spring complained that the comment of the NBC news anchor, Brian Williams, that the organisation was "sensitive to how this will be seen by those affected" was disregarded by its repeated airings of the footage.
"Last night, with the aid of NBC News and subsequently every other news organization in America, the Virginia Tech killer got his final wish. The murderer wanted his words to live on after him? he wanted to be a martyr like, in his own words, Eric and Dylan from the Columbine High School massacre - and we gave him his last request on the evening news," he wrote.
