[J-ENT] TELEVIEWS/ When is enough enough, and when is it not?

June 20, 2008 by KNDY

In a recent Televiews column by Wm. Penn for the Daily Yomiuri, Penn wrote, “How much news coverage is enough? It’s a good question with no easy answer–especially when the news is a random rampage like the June 8 Akihabara tragedy that left 17 dead or injured and the nation in shock.”

“Of course, the public wants and needs to know what happened. But is constant weeklong repetition appropriate, especially after the perpetrator, Tomohiro Kato, admitted that monopolizing the daytime wide shows was one of his goals?”

“Why fulfill his ghoulish wish, continually drum the story into the heads of potential copycat criminals and encourage the public to fear “pedestrian heavens,” which on a roster of the capital’s many potential dangers are surely pretty far down the list?”

“On June 14, Broadcaster (Saturdays, 10 p.m., TBS) reported the Kato case got 14 hours, 2 minutes and 9 seconds of wide show coverage last week–and that’s just daytime TV. It does not include the incessant regular news reports. The disturbing images were still center screen long after print media coverage had begun to subside.”

“The victims deserve eulogies and the alienation and employment challenges the young now face deserve more coverage, but making Kato the poster boy for the problem confuses the issue. Airing the haunting media images of Kato’s devastated mother, unable to even stand on her own, raises important questions about broadcasting ethics.”