In the midst of a tragedy of this magnitude, I  feel sort of strange
sharing what might be a fairly petty observation. But it is eating at
me.  And I'll get to it in a second. 
 
It's not that more serious issues arising out of the Virginia murders
don't come to mind, but I am almost compulsive about withholding
judgment while these events are unfolding and while people are still
dealing with such unimaginable loss. It's just that I have always been
very queasy about instant diagnosis, second-guessing  and premature
proffering of "expert" opinions.
 
I should add that I know someone has to be trying to make sense as
things unfold,  and good journalists are doing just that. But as someone
who has studied these kinds of incidents for years, each time one occurs
I wait longer and longer to say anything, lest I become part of the
noise that is so pervasive and that clouds rather than clarifies these
baffling incidents.
 
So what's the gripe I just have to get off my chest? 
 
I celebrate as much as anyone the new technologies that are adding
different kinds of texts and images to the raw material available to
journalists.  And with the surreptitious execution video of Saddam
Hussein, and now the VA Tech video of Monday's events, the cell phone
camera has surely taken its rightful place in the "toolbox." 
 
But why in the world do some of the networks have to package their
requests for free video as "citizen journalism?"  Is there any
definition of the concept of citizen journalism that includes networks
using it as a rationale to have viewers send them free content? I
suppose I am still intrigued enough with notions like "citizen" or
"civic" journalism, and their potential for enhancing democracy and
civic involvement, that I hate to see commercial networks defining
citizen journalism as "send us your videos, all the better if they have
the sound of gunshots."
 
This may be petty, but when I watch the 24 hour news channels I want to
shout at the television: You people set up these non-stop news
behemoths,  you fill them mostly with  mind-numbing repetition, re-runs,
and personality driven news, and when something serious happens you want
us to supply your content?
 
I honestly may be missing something, but where is the democracy and
civic participation in this?
 
Thoughts and reactions welcome.
 
Steve
 
PS.  I will toss in that, for those who are interested, I am on the
advisory council of an  organization called the Dart Center on
Journalism and Trauma at the University of Washington.  We help
reporters cover these traumatic and catastrophic incidents with
sensitivity and care. Many of my colleagues are reporters and editors
who have covered stories like the Oklahoma City bombing, war and
genocide, and 9/11. You might want to check out their web site:
 
http://www.dartcenter.org/