Chapter Six

Chapter six is about the evening of Ursula Riggs at the day when Matt was arrested because of allegedly planning a shooting spree. Ursula doesn’t want to tell her mother and sister anything, neither about the rumors nor about the basketball game (p. 51, ll. 20-29).

From my point of view the most eye catching scene was that one when the news reporter says something about the suspect and the rumors. “… it isn’t known if the boy has a juvenile record or a psychiatric history or even he was conspiring with others in the alleged plot.” (p. 54, ll. 17-19)

When I read this extract, I instantly thought of Tim Kretschmer and the amok in Winnenden. After the perpetrator has killed 15 people and afterwards committed suicide, the news broadcasted many specials about the case. The reporters gave so much information, but a few days later we could see that much of the information wasn’t true not even a rudimentary.

The journalists alleged that Tim Kretschmer has a psychiatric history and got help from a psychologist but at that time there weren’t any evidences for that statement. This information was only sent because the reporters needed a new spectacular one. They invented that only for having good viewing levels not for broadcasting the real latest news.

This extract impressively criticizes the today's behavior of the local news and network TV. E.g. they would prefer to send a report on a catastrophe with one thousand dead people and many pictures of it than a report of a catastrophe without good pictures. They only send what might attract more viewers.

In Germany fortunately there are the by public law regulated television networks.