Chapel Hill shooting (Durham, Cary: safe, discount, vehicle)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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How come we are not hearing as much coverage of the Duke student being killed UNTIL now? Could it be because he is Ian Indian male? I was watching CNN earlier and it seemed as if they were forced into showing a) his picture and b) reading a statement from Duke university. The anchor was fumbling over the statement (as if he was just given it) and they had one picture of him.......and 10 of her. Both are tragic, both are in the Triangle, both are students...the only difference is skin and sex. The murders are sad, but so is the coverage of the case.
How come we are not hearing as much coverage of the Duke student being killed UNTIL now? Could it be because he is Ian Indian male? I was watching CNN earlier and it seemed as if they were forced into showing a) his picture and b) reading a statement from Duke university. The anchor was fumbling over the statement (as if he was just given it) and they had one picture of him.......and 10 of her. Both are tragic, both are in the Triangle, both are students...the only difference is skin and sex. The murders are sad, but so is the coverage of the case.
Actually, I think the big difference is that Eve was the president of the student body and much more of a public figure.
How come we are not hearing as much coverage of the Duke student being killed UNTIL now? Could it be because he is Ian Indian male? I was watching CNN earlier and it seemed as if they were forced into showing a) his picture and b) reading a statement from Duke university. The anchor was fumbling over the statement (as if he was just given it) and they had one picture of him.......and 10 of her. Both are tragic, both are in the Triangle, both are students...the only difference is skin and sex. The murders are sad, but so is the coverage of the case.
100% agree. Other recent examples are the Laci Peterson murder and the Elizabeth Smart abduction... sadly, these things happen daily but the only ones we hear about involve upper-middle class white women.
Truth be told, I think there's an element of the pretty white girl syndrome going on, BUT on the other hand, Eve Carson was a very recognizable figure at UNC. Before this happened, she was still all over the UNC website. Her position meant that UNC photographers had done numerous professional shoots with her for a variety of activities and purposes. She was already on YouTube. She had websites and facebook groups already, and a slideshow (go watch it!) on the Morehead-Cain site.
Mahato from by all accounts an excellent scholar and wonderful friend. He was accomplished and recognized within his circle of professors and friends. He was not a student leader at Duke and he was certainly not recognizable at large to the entire student body before this happened to him. There were few photos, and no interviews and videos available on the Duke website for news organizations to feed on and propogate. I can tell you that people at Duke were very, very sad about Mahato and we all said many of the same things about it being a senseless waste of a very valuable and contributing life, but Mahato was not well known, he was not a public figure that a lot of people knew or had seen on the website or had talked to at a town meeting or dorm presentation. There was simply a difference in recognition. I daresay any grad student would have received less attention than an undergraduate in the same situation.
Sure, some of it could be that Eve Carson was blond and All-American looking in the classic sense, but I think you have to recognize the difference in public awareness and availability of photos/media of one versus the other.
Last edited by Esperanza27713; 03-13-2008 at 02:57 PM..
Reason: clarification in final paragraph
Truth be told, I think there's an element of the pretty white girl syndrome going on, BUT on the other hand, Eve Carson was a very recognizable figure at UNC. Before this happened, she was still all over the UNC website. Her position meant that UNC photographers had done numerous professional shoots with her for a variety of activities and purposes. She was already on YouTube. She had websites and facebook groups already, and a slideshow (go watch it!) on the Morehead-Cain site.
Mahato from by all accounts an excellent scholar and wonderful friend. He was accomplished and recognized within his circle of professors and friends. He was not a student leader at Duke and he was certainly not recognizable at large to the entire student body before this happened to him. There were few photos, and no interviews and videos available on the Duke website for news organizations to feed on and propogate. I can tell you that people at Duke were very, very sad about Mahato and we all said many of the same things about it being a senseless waste of a very valuable and contributing life, but Mahato was not well known, he was not a public figure that a lot of people knew or had seen on the website or had talked to at a town meeting or dorm presentation. There was simply a difference in recognition. I daresay any grad student would have received less attention than an undergraduate in the same situation.
Sure, some of it could be that Eve Carson was blond and All-American looking in the classic sense, but I think you have to recognize the difference in public awareness and availability of photos/media of one versus the other.
Some great points Esperanza and I agree with many of them....
My only question then would be, yes Carson's higher profile might explain the more intense local coverage but it doesn't explain the increased national coverage....
Also, while Ms Carson may have been a very visible member of her campus community who outside of UNC had heard of her before this tragedy?
I also find the blanket statement that any grad student death would receive less coverage than an undergraduate curious.
Ask yourself, if the Duke grad student was a low profile Eve Carson and the UNC undergrad student body president was named Mahato do you think the coverager of the 2 stories may have differed?
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