Networks Limit Use Of Gunman's Video

Some relatives of the Virginia Tech victims had been scheduled for interviews yesterday on the "Today" show, but Meredith Vieira told viewers that "they canceled their appearances because they were very upset with NBC for airing the images." Her co-host, Matt Lauer, said there were "some big differences of opinion right within this news division as to whether we should be airing this stuff at all."

In Virginia, State Police Col. Steven Flaherty told reporters that NBC's decision was "rather disappointing," although no law enforcement official had asked the network to refrain from airing the footage.

Bryan Clark, the twin brother of one of the victims, Ryan Clark, said he watched the video in an attempt to understand Cho's motivation. "I guess it is like looking at a train wreck," he said. "You don't want to watch, but you can't turn away."

The criticism was reminiscent of the first days after the 9/11 attacks, when the networks kept replaying footage of a plane hitting the World Trade Center before deciding to use it more sparingly.

The majority of comments on a blog posting by NBC anchor Brian Williams were negative. "I am sick that you would have obliged the killer by using his material," one person said. "It almost drove me to tears in fear," another said. "I am totally appalled that NBC News has chosen to broadcast the videos of a psychopath according to his wishes and thereby possibly encourage other disturbed individuals to attempt to gain infamy through similar or copycat acts," said a third.

NBC's Capus said he decided against releasing all of Cho's "rantings" and aired only "a small fraction of the overall material. Once we've put that out, we've done what we intended to do. We weren't going to keep ratcheting it up and ratcheting it up."

As for the anger directed at NBC, Capus said: "Every one of our competitors, every newspaper made the same journalistic decision. The news value of this material cannot be disputed."

Most newspapers, including The Washington Post, ran front-page photos from the material mailed to NBC, particularly a menacing shot of the killer with arms outstretched, each hand holding one of the guns he used in the shooting spree. The pictures varied in size from The Post's stamp-size image to huge displays in the New York tabloids. USA Today ran a montage of five images.

Howard Kurtz hosts CNN's weekly media program, "Reliable Sources." Staff writers Timothy Dwyer and Sandhya Somashekhar contributed to this report.