Opinion: Mass murder is great for the news biz

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Major news events, good or bad, typically bring in press releases from websites touting how much their traffic surged or how they mobilized to superserve the public. This practice is mildly irritating when related to the Super Bowl, but exceptionally tacky when connected to a tragedy on the order of Monday’s shootings at Virginia Tech. Much of the public’s interest is driven by the society’s fascination with violent death, as reflected by the success of TV shows like the ‘CSI’ franchise and ’24.’ And it just seems wrong for companies to trumpet how well that mordant curiosity has worked for them. Issues of taste and propriety, however, did not deter MSNBC from sending out two releases yesterday: ‘Msnbc.com Creates ‘On the Scene’ Blog for Virginia Tech Tragedy’ declared the first, followed by ‘Record Numbers Turn to Msnbc.com for Coverage of Virginia Tech Tragedy/Video Streams Top All News Sites At 10 million.’ What can we say, but, ‘Congratulations, Msnbc.com!’ Today it was ABC News’ turn. Its headline: ‘Landmark Numbers for ABC News Digital for Coverage of Virginia Tech Tragedy.’ Well, at least these guys recognized it was a tragedy, not just an opportunity.