Do you think the media was capitalizing on the grief surrounding Sept. 11 to capture bigger ratings? A lot of people do, but, I think that's pretty silly. It's Sept. 11. What else is the media supposed to do? Media is a reflection of society. New York and D.C. were filled, from dawn to dusk, with memorials and speeches, so doesn't it make sense that the television news media, from dawn to dusk, reported on those things and the people affected by the terrorists. I, for one, really like the personal profiles. It's important to attach some faces to the numbers. Luckily, no one I know died that day, so it's hard for me to imagine how devastated the families of victims must be. Watching some of these news segments gives me an idea.

Also, it can't really be about ratings. If every major network and every cable news channel is reporting on basically the same thing, the ratings game will be pretty pointless. People will just watch the channel the usually watch.

I just really think that for the most part, if people didn't want to see it, it wouldn't be on TV.

I get really sensitive about people dissing the media without really thinking about the topic. At Rutgers, there were always anti-Targum protestors, saying that the newspaper never reflected so-and-so's point of view and calling for boycotts. I always wanted to give in and stop publishing for a few weeks because those people would realize how utterly lost they'd be without the newspaper they hated so much.