SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

Since the Charlottesville riot on Aug. 13, people have received a consistent stream of media stories and TV segments concerning the latest ridiculous thing a politician said on the matter or who is to blame. Meanwhile, more important stories are being missed. 

The attack in Barcelona that happened five days after the Charlottesville riots had far less attention. In Barcelona, a van was driven into pedestrians and left 13 people dead and 130 people injured. One of those killed in Barcelona was American.

While that attack did receive more attention than others, the coverage was a blip on the radar in comparison to Charlottesville.

Rather than looking at the violence in Libya that included the beheading of eleven people on Wednesday, CNN talked about “Trump voter says Charlottesville was a setup,” and Fox News was making fun of ESPN for pulling announcer Robert Lee from a Virginia game because he shares a name with the Confederate general.

Networks have moved away from 24-hour coverage of Charlottesville, but it still receives daily reports ten days later.

It would be one thing if the coverage was talking about those impacted by the riots or investigating the systemic issues that lead to the violence. However, that’s not the conversation.

It’s time to move on.

That’s not the same as forgetting what happened or forgetting those who were hurt – it should be remembered – but constant coverage is serving as a distraction from other events. 

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Florida is struggling to keep up with medical marijuana demands as thousands of patients receive doctor’s certifications to use it.

A Reuters report said 153 autopsies specifically cited tasers as a contributing factor to the person’s death. However, the company producing these tasers say they have killed 24 people and it wasn’t by the charge, but rather from falls or a fire caused by the discharge.

Meanwhile, multiple states including Florida and New York are starting to plan for constitutional conventions to amend, tweak or improve the state’s founding documents.

These, along with other stories, aren’t receiving much attention because in news violence sells and the industry is trying to stay afloat. However, that’s not enough reason to stretch an event into weeks of coverage just looking at the violence.

It’s time to take a more serious look at what’s going on in the world rather than staying focused on the violence of a single event.

Miki Shine is a senior majoring in mass communications