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Principal Offender. Within the press and broadcasting, some feel that coverage—especially on TV—has perhaps gone too far. Chris Duffy, general manager of Indianapolis' WTHR-TV, yanked Kiritsis' demented monologue off the air two weeks ago. Said Duffy: "That man might have pulled the trigger, and that wouldn't have been a picture for a TV audience."
Some critics who consider television news the principal offender suggest that news show ratings be scrapped so as to reduce the competition for sheer sensationalism. That is scarcely likely to happen. U.S.C.'s Hacker (author of a new study, Crusaders, Criminals, Crazies) suggests that news executives, sociologists and police set up "media action teams" to establish ground rules for sensational news breaks. That could be almost as difficult to accomplish; the boundary between restraint and suppression is obscure and hazardous.