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Getting it right

Every time there is a tragedy, there is a rush to publish as much information about the situation as possible. Over the last few days, we've seen faulty information fed to the public time after time concerning the shooting at Virginia Tech. And while I understand the desire for people to know what happened as quickly as possible, I would think that providing correct information is even more important.

The MSM (mainstream media), including high profile news personalities, have made mistake after mistake in releasing false information on the Virginia Tech shootings. And, sadly, so have many bloggers.

The truth of the matter really is that some people will do anything for ratings. Regardless of what pain they cause, and what lies they spread.

One of the victims of the VT murders was Emily Jane Hilscher, a 19 year old, who clearly had a good deal of people who loved her, and who will miss her for the rest of their lives.

Emily was identified as one of the first victims of the shooting, which lead to a great deal of speculation on the behalf of the MSM and bloggers.

In reading about the tragic events, I've come across a lot of comments from friends of Emily's that clearly state she was not in a relationship with monster who did this. Sadly, it seems that the first glimpse of the situation made it appear to be a domestic violence act, and therefore a huge amount of people have grabbed that portion of the story and linked Emily as having dated Cho. I read a great piece today that stated that her actual boyfriend was first spoken to about the first shooting,(because police were investigating that angle,) which should have ended any rumors that Cho and her were romantically involved.

Even with this new information, and an outpouring of information from her friends that Emily and Cho were not together, many people still want to try to play that hand.

Since I was never blessed with the chance to meet her, I'd like you to look at this site http://southernsassoncrime.com/?p=704 (copy and paste url into browser)
I'm mainly interested in this post because I have personal knowledge that the people responsible for that post have already been contacted and informed that the information there is wrong- but in showing extreme lack of respect, they have decided to ignore it and keep the post "as is". For those that knew Emily, there is a chance to counter their post with information that is correct, and bring back some human decency when it comes to reporting information to the public. I personally believe that while the public desires to know about the tragic situation there at VT, it is also important to make sure that we are printing the truth, rather than tarnishing the memories of those lost by allowing lies to be posted as facts.

Let's face it, if you aren't willing to even try to get it right, then you have no business talking about it to begin with.

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