Teaching at Tech

By John Carlin
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: April 25, 2007

When News Anchor John Carlin walked into Shanks Hall where he teaches a class in Broadcast News Writing for Virginia Tech, the sign on the door instructed all Media to please stay away.  It listed a phone number to call to schedule interviews.

The sign on the door to Shanks Hall, says it all after a week of what has been termed, “smotherage”—the world’s media descending upon campus.

Yet inside—my class focuses on news writing.  Prioritizing issues and ethical decision making.  My students—the next generation of media.

In class we listened to a podcast from the Poynter Institute as ethics experts debated the merits of showing the Cho “manifesto.”

Afterward several students volunteered to talk about it.

Mackie Usery: I don’t think it should have been shown as much as it was shown over and over again.

Anthony Della Calce: It should not have been shown as much as it was.  I think the biggest reason is we don’t want to glorify someone.

Torrey Smith: One thing for me personally it showed is that the picture we initially saw was a kid in glasses, just the transformation from that to the cold blooded killer he became.

Shamus Williams: I think they had to show it. I think that the news has an obligation to the public to show it.  Though it hurt me as a Virginia Tech student, being a media student I felt the need that they had to show it.

The other issue is the intense coverage.  Many in class thought the coverage was too much, but their friends even more so. Many of these soon-to-be reporters felt caught in the middle.

Erin McAndrews: My friends have stickers on them that say media go away, and I find it difficult to find myself explaining it to them

Torrey Smith: We went through it.  We are the only ones who can say we did go through it.  So our opinions and perspective need to be heard.

Erin McAndrews: It has been interesting and I think I’ve learned a lot.