Hey DeltAlum,
I do apologize for bashing all the media for some bad apples. Pot, meet kettle!!
By "hard" news I assume you mean the nightly network newscasts and local news. That's what I'm taking it as. I would not expect those outlets to not report a hazing incident or any other negative incident. However, I don't consider 48 Hours, Dateline et al "hard" news. Hard news to me is a medium where facts are presented IMPARTIALLY and I really do not see that on most of these type shows.
As far as my time of the season theory - there was a well publicized hazing incident at a midwestern college a few years ago. It happened in the late fall I believe. TWO YEARS later in - you guessed it - April, it showed up on 20/20. By that time steps had been taken by the national and the school to remedy the situation, yet anyone watching this report would think it happened yesterday. Several incidents from various times were gathered to make this seem like a pandemic. I do not take issue with the reporting of an incident, but the style and timeline in which it was reported.
Of course you ae 100% right in saying that if the incidents did not happen, they wouldn't be reported. But I see very little equal time for the GOOD things that happen. Our alumnae panhel here has a scholarship lunch every spring and every spring info is submitted to the local newspaper and TV stations. It has yet to make it in. Meanwhile, Waynesburg College killed its Greek system and the paper published an article that did everything but say "way to go!" If the link is still active, I'll post it here.
So yes, we do have some real butt-heads in the system that make it hard for all of us. But I think that the "Greeks are elitist jerks" attitudes of some in the media don't help. It all boils down to what kappagirl said - the good stuff just isn't as interesting as the dirt.
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