For all the crap I like to give my alma mater, I was really surprised at how disturbed I was at the news of the shooting there this afternoon. It made me… just… sad, to see Charlie Gibson covering NIU on ABC World News.
Watching the press conference now, and holy cow, the NIU police chief guy is HUMONGOUS. And he’s crabby. If that guy got mad at me, I think I would pee my pants.
Reason #5438 I would be a bad journalist: All the stupid questions you have to ask. Sheesh, these people come off as dense. They just ask the same 4 questions over and over again. I mean, basically, they’ll just keep asking the same questions until you cut them off. Don’t they feel a little dumb about that? I understand that they are just trying to get all the information and unearth anything new; I’m just saying I would hate it if that was my job.
Also, interesting that NIU has a “Campus Security Alert” graphic, which appears to have been prepared beforehand. Or, maybe the web designer is stuck in his dorm tonight with nothing better to do?
And finally, I wish they would stop interviewing students – especially the first-years. Not exactly the most eloquent spokespeople for the university… And none of them seem to know anything anyway. “I heard from this guy that he was wearing a ski mask” is not really the best eyewitness testimony. They also seem to laugh at inappropriate times. Not that I know anything about inappropriate reactions to serious situations…
Blech.