How many more Dylanns are there?

Journalism is dead in America.  Instead we have Pravda, the NBC 1960s Russian affiliate spewing propaganda with zero conscience.  Friday, the nightly news with Lester Holt ended its coverage of the Charlotte, NC tragedy with the comment that “gun control was likely to be a big issue in the 2016 presidential race.”  How absolutely crass, cold and opportunistic is that?  Let’s stomp on the victims memories with political manipulation.

We have all heard it.  Immediately after a tragedy makes big headlines, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and others start preaching the need for gun control.  They do not wait for the families to grieve or respect the victims.  Instead, they attempt to used that event to push their personal political agendas.  NBC this week was in fine form as they followed the President’s lead.  There are so many approaches that NBC could have taken that could have both honored the families of the victims and had a measurable positive impact on society.  Instead of addressing the cause, they parroted the President’s agenda.

The real cause of this tragedy is Dylann Roof who chose to commit this heinous act.  The secondary causes are the sources of information that bred such hate in this man.  NBC certainly could have focused on the hate web sites and groups that still remain as social outliers in this society.  They could have made points about the wrongness of hate and contrasted this to the forgiveness shown by the victims’ families.  If through NBC‘s reporting one person reconsidered their approach to race many more lives would be saved and they would have done real journalism not just parroted a political agenda.

They could also have reported on Dylann’s family and what steps led up to this.  Why would the dad give him a gun?  Was the family familiar with his intentions? Did the family support this?  What about his friends, why did they not speak up?  Do they have the same views?  Are there more Dylann’s lurking in the weeds of Charlotte?

Even within the scope of gun control NBC did not report on the huge death toll in Chicago,  or the increased homicides in NY where there are gun control laws.  Why do they not report on these greater tragedies.  Is the value of life less important than their agenda?  It seems so.

By failing to do honest reporting NBC leaves us all at risk while demeaning the memory and sacrifice of the victims.  Shame on NBC.