Syndication Weekly

I introduce into this weekly feature, a women, Mona Charen. She is a very accomplished syndicated columnist, and political analyst. In her latest column she addresses the press and presents a challenge for them to consider. Charen discusses the recent rash of episodes involving disturbed individuals who commit heinous crimes. She points to the Omaha shooter, the man at the Hillary Clinton headquarters in New Hampshire, and the Virginia Tech tragedy. The problem is the coverage of the media who gives these people a name and face. The thought is that this might lead to copycats that will respond with their own attention-seeking behavior. That is Charen's message in this column, these are individuals seeking fame. With a life of little notice or distinction these types of people seek out that one glorious moment when the whole world will know their name. This is where the danger in presenting these people with a stage to conduct their gruesome play. It seems to be an ever increasing reality of our society that is mesmerized by reality t.v., Charen writes about the American lust for fame. She calls upon the media to take ownership of the problem, because it a problem for them to handle alone. Charen points to the fact that the media has limited itself to not publishing the names of rape victims. She would ask the same treatment for those who commit such horrendous crimes. As she puts it, "deny oxygen to this terrible fire," I could not agree more.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MonaCharen/2007/12/07/a_challenge_to_the_press
Courtesy of www.townhall.com