The YouTube dilemma

I think my first reaction was probably shared by many. As horrible scenes of terrified school children fleeing a gunman flood the screen, I immediately think: America. Not again.

And yet the latest in a horrific wave of school slaughters was not in the US of A, but Finland - not a country normally associated with extreme violence, Hollywood-style shoot outs and gangster glorification. When a crazed gunman burst into the school in Finland, shooting seven pupils and a teacher before killing himself, the echos to American tragedies were all too clear.

Colombine, Virginia Tech - obvious examples. And the resonance is even stronger when you realise that the murderers all have in common their desire to publicise their deeds, and gain grim fame from the attrocity. Finnish killer, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, posted a clip entitled "Jokela High School massacre 11/7/2007" the day before the murders, in the same way that Cho Seung Hui sent videos explaining his actions to news stations in the US. Was Auvien influenced by Hui? Would he have carried out the act if he hadn't seen Hui's bloody rise to fame? Are the media to blame for this frightening rise in school killings?

A Canadian broadcaster refused to show the Cho Seung Hui's videos, saying that it would encourage copy-cat killings. That to me was an extremely brave decision - albeit one which was heavily criticised for censorship.

But how can we deal with this phenomena? It seems that more and more disturbed young people are looking to the internet and television to publicise their warped take on reality, to act out their demons and gain notoriety. Perhaps the recognition that they always wanted. Maybe we shouldn't show it. And how should news editors react? I admire the Canadian take on it - that these people should not be given a platform. But even though he refused to show the footage, rivals did, and I don't doubt for a minute that they scored immensly higher ratings. We are all drawn to this gruesome tale, and yet repulsed by it.

I would love to say with certainty that, in their position, I would take the high moral ground and not show any such videos, YouTube clips or material "promoting" these assassins, in an attempt to avoid copy-cat killings. But with news station chiefs hungry for ratings and the public fascinated by these sick actions, then I honestly don't know how I could resist the ratings pressure and not show what I believe is morally wrong. Does this make me a bad person? Or just someone trying to keep on top of their game? I don't know myself.