I know a lot of people complained about the excessive coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings by the media. I have to agree that a lot of outlets, like CNN and Fox News, made the story much more sensationalized than it was.

Some people also complained about NBC showing the videos that the shooter sent them. But let's just try to picture the situation if the 24/7 news stations didn't cover the event even 50% as much as they did.

People would be screaming, "This was a national tragedy, why is it being ignored?!"

Sure, there was oversaturation, and more stories should have been about the victims than the shooter, Cho Seung-Hui, but the bottom line in any business is $$$.

NBC must have been so excited that they were chosen to receive all of Cho's videos and photographs. It's an editors dream, the holy grail! NBC's decision to broadcast his video was simple to make, in my opinion. Of course they should have shown it, if they didn't then people would have complained that they were withholding information, that they were censoring the story.

The timing of the video was a little off, though. They shouldn't have shown it so quickly because that's what Cho wanted. Many relatives and friends of those killed were outraged at NBC for showing it so quickly after the shootings, and I agree, NBC should have waited.

People need to realize that ratings are God in this business, and people love to watch tragedies on TV. Ask some people, ask them if they were glued to the TV right after the shootings. Ask them how much news TV they have watched since. $$$ is king.

Blogs.

They're overrated.

Anyway, in response to Charlie Madigan's column defending mainstream media labeling others as info-pimps, he certainly raises a good point and it needs to be discussed.

These so called info-pimps, the ones who usually fabricate information about politicians (usually ones running in an election), they don't care who the information is about, Democrat or Republican, all they care about is whether it'll get more coverage.

They will broadcast or print whatever will get the most attention and thus the most money. The juicy tidbit of info is what sells.

Is it the fault of mainstream media for broadcasting or printing this false information? Well, partially. We need more fact checking, more investigations, more accountability. This is why the profession of journalism is down near used car salesman today. It was Thomas Jefferson who said "Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper."

Of course that quote is wrong, but it's also the fault of the public to buy into these hogwash stories so faithfully. So some politicos paid someone to conjur up the Swift Boat scandal, and the public ate it up.

It seems like these stories are going to be the future of digging up dirt on your political opponents. It's not only the responsibility of mainstream media to NOT broadcast or print that propaganda, but the public needs to realize what it is when it does make it to the media.