The Virginia Tech shooting: Japanese media coverage (Video)
Like many of you in Japan, I woke up this morning and turned on the TV to find out that there had been a horrible shooting at Virginia Tech. Of course, the coverage here is probably nothing compared to the non-stop reporting it’s probably getting in America, but it is a top story. The reports seemed to cover all the main facts released so far regarding the case, but there were a few things different from the coverage in America. For example, the news spend some time talking on the phone with a Japanese student at VT who narrowly avoided the shooting:
In a telephone interview with Kyodo News, Mariko Uno, 23, from Kyoto Prefecture, said she was attending a class in a building next to the site of the rampage when an unidentified gunman opened fire, and was scheduled to attend a separate class at the site of the shooting in the afternoon.
She said she and some 20 classmates were ushered to a separate room that can be locked from the inside and stayed there for some 2 1/2 hours. As dozens of patrol cars gathered at the campus, Uno, who began her studies at Virginia Tech two years ago, said she gradually realized how grave the situation was.
In the part of her interview that aired lived in Fuji TV this morning, Uno said she hadn’t even heard any gun shots, but I guess the Japanese press was desperate to find a Japanese-speaking person who sort-of witnessed the shooting (I think they may have said in a report that there were only 17 Japanese students at the school). The only other noteworthy part of this morning’s press coverage would have to be this Japanese report’s live slip-up:
Reporting on the alleged ethnicity of the shooter: “The suspect was Afric…errr..Asian…” He did get it right the other 3 or 4 times he made the report this morning, though…
Update: An interesting video clip from the news in which the shooter rambles on about Jesus, Osama Bin-Laden, Kim Jong-Il, and Bush. He’s definitely a nutcase:
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Yeah, I was surprised how quickly my students heard about the shooting.
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This story broke early morning in Japan so I think a lot of the morning news programs covered it. It was the headline for at least a little while on some of the news websites.
The shooter, by the way, is Cho Seung-hui, a South Korean. I think he came to the US via Shanghai so most assumed he was Chinese.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cho_Seung-hui
I must say that Wikipedia editors moved really fast collecting data on this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre
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The shooter is confirmed to be Korean which I don’t think really matters.
I can’t imagine what the families are going through. All those students would have a bright future and unfortunately, they will never get to achieve their goals. The Virginia Tech Massacre is on 24/7 on CNN, MSNBC, FOX, etc–which can be very annoying.
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The announcer did not get it right. He says the gunman was an Asian American. The gunman was a Korean Citizen holding a green card. He does not seem to have obtained US citizenship.
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I have some update from people I know. If you think why police can not identify the shooter right away and they even said Chinese on the day of shooting, you may feel there is something not right. If the suspect has green card, a single finger print check will reveal the identity. They announced it as Chinese and the corrected it as S Korean. Why?
My friend told me FBI knew him right away and before making any media announcement, the agents went to his parent’s place and asked them to move to Canada in order to avoid any terror attack by some stupid whites.
FBI agent brought them to their house for packing, where they committed a suicide. And shooter’s father is dead and mother is hospitalized. FBI and police can not release this to US media because it is way too much of tragedy most people can handle…
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Wahoo, are you sure?
“A Virginia Tech spokeswoman who appeared at the news conference denied that Cho’s parents, who live in Virginia, had committed suicide.
She said some media had erroneously reported that the couple, who moved to the U.S. in the 1990s, had killed themselves.
She emphasized that both are very much alive.
She would not disclose where Cho’s parents are currently staying. ”
http://ciproud.com/content/fulltext/?sid=a552ddbd53e6aa5bb187b13bab7f3698&cid=1997
Thank you Wahoo for the entertaining story, but the FBI would not “ask them to move to Canada” in a case like this, they’d keep them for interviewing purposes.
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No I am not sure.
Well, there is always some story maker, which I don’t usually believe.
But I did it this time even though that Canada stroy was a little fishy. I don’t have any reference because I was told by a friend told by another who is living around the area where the parents live. I couldn’t find any supporting reference. And I am happy to see what you find.
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I’m curious. Would you mind explaining to me where did you get that intel; where the gunman’s parents commit suicide? Your “friend” must have been either really close to the suspect’s family or perhaps stating what may be propaganda. Either way it is not helping to ease the suffering of those 32 victim’s families.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18143312/
Shows the names and faces of those lives lost due to that madman.
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