Title: Asian American identity in New York Times coverage of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting
Author: Lingmiao Qiu
Introduction:
On April 16th 2007, a senior student of Virginia Tech, Seung-Hui Cho shot 32 people and wounded 23 people on the campus of Virginia Tech. The criminal of this shooting, Seung-Hui Cho is a Korean American who was born in South Korea and moved to U.S.A. with his family when he was 8. This shooting attracted all attention of media and people all around the world. “At the time, it was (and still remains) the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. But perhaps what was more surprising to audiences was who was responsible for the murder. The ethnicity of the shooter was a surprise to American Audiences” (Kim M. LeDuff, “The Real Price of Oppression: Fox News Coverage of the Virginia Tech Shooter.” in Christopher P. Campbell, Kim M. LeDuff, Cheryl D. Jenkins, and Rockell A. Brown, Race and News: Critical Perspectives (New York: Routledge, 2012), 161-176.). This paper will analyze how newspaper reported Cho and this shooting. Since the New York Times is one of the biggest and most successful newspapers in America and has a reputation of being a generally reliable and trustful news source, I choose New York Times as a representation. More specifically, this article will study whether New York Times emphasized or overemphasized Cho’s immigrant identity. Emphasis here means The New York Times demonstrates stereotypically selective reporting: “the non-immigration- specific characteristics were often presented through the lens of immigration.” (Chuang, Angie. “Representation of Foreign versus (Asian) American Identity in a Mass-Shooting Case: Newspaper Coverage of the 2009 Binghamton Massacre.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 89th ser. 2 (2012): 244-56. Web.). The discussion about this topic is significantly important since numerous scholars have examined that an authoritative newspaper like The New York Times can easily influence people’s understanding and judgment of huge events. “Very often stereotypes that we encounter in the media determine how we interact with others in the real world and we may not even be conscious of it.” (LeDuff 2012; 174) In Cho’s case, The New York Times could lead audiences to reach a wrong conclusion that Cho’s immigrant status played a role in the shooting if its news coverage stressed that Cho’s immigrant status. Furthermore, if audiences were convinced that his immigrant status did contribute to the happening of mass shooting, they would tend to treat all Asian Americans differently. For example, they may harass Asian Americans. “Across the nation, Koreans have braced for harassment in the wake of the Monday shooting rampage on the Virginia Tech campus that left 33dead, including Cho Seung-Hui, the South Korean-born gunman” (Steinhauer, Jennifer. “Korean-Americans Brace for Problems in Wake of Killings.” The New York Times 19 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.)
Discussion:
Actually, just two years after Virginia Tech massacre, in Binghamton, New York, another Asian American, Jiverly Wong, also committed a massacre. How media portrayed Wong also became the focus of many scholars’ articles. Angie Chuang’s article “Representation of Foreign versus (Asian) American Identity in a Mass-Shooting Case: Newspaper Coverage of the 2009 Binghamton Massacre” is one example. After conducting professional research, Chuang deems that news coverage emphasized Wong’s immigrant identity and linked his crime with his identity when they were reporting 2009 Binghamton massacre. “While Wong’s salient characteristics, as presented by the newspaper coverage, were often relevant and had news value, coverage tended either to focus on those that directly related to his foreignness or to present non-foreign characteristics, such as job loss or a divorce, in a way that emphasized the immigrant experience or reinforced Asian- male stereotypes.” (Chuang, Angie. “Representation of Foreign versus (Asian) American Identity in a Mass-Shooting Case: Newspaper Coverage of the 2009 Binghamton Massacre.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 89th ser. 2 (2012): 244-56. Web.) Because media emphasized Wong’s immigrant identity and link his crime with his identity, these is a huge chance that media also emphasize Cho’s ethnicity and thought Cho’s ethnicity was contribute to the massacre. And ultimately, I find The New York Times did portrayed Cho through the lens of immigration. As LeDuff’s article “The Real Price of Oppression: Fox News Coverage of the Virginia Tech Shooter” has said, Cho’s ethnicity did surprise all audiences. After examining Fox News Coverage of Virginia Tech shooting, LeDuff reports that Fox News implies Cho is the only guilty one at the end of program. “It removes all the blame from society and instead places it all back on the perpetrator as though all the issues that led to his actions developed in a vacuum.” In LeDuff’s view, the Six Racism Related Stresses (Racism Related Stress, Victarious Racism and Stress, Daily Racism and Micro Stress, Chronic Contextual Racism and Stress, Collective Racism and Stress and Transgenerational Racism and Stress), proposed by Harrell in 2000, are contributors to massacre. So, if The New York Times did emphasize Cho’s immigrant status by presenting Cho’s story through the lens of immigration, the intense of Racism Related Stress received by all other Asian Americans would largely increase. LeDuff also indicates that Fox News Coverage depicted Cho as an exception to the rule of the Asian American Stereotype – Model Minority. Another scholar Qin Zhang generalize Asian American stereotype as following: “Asian Americans, although overall underrepresented, are sometimes characterized as a model minority, who are hardworking, intelligent, and polite. Deceptively positive on the surface, the model minority stereotype actually harbors and perpetuates other insidious stereotypes about Asian Americans, such as foreign, non-American, quiet, nerdy and passive.” (Zhang, Qin. “Asian American beyond the Model Minority Stereotype: The Nerdy and the Left Out.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 3rd ser. 1 (2010): 20-37. Web.). Even though the six racism stresses lead Cho to commit the shooting and his ethnicity did surprise everyone, I disagree that media depicted Cho as an exemption of Asian American stereotype. Instead The New York Times depicted Cho based on Asian American stereotype and emphasized Cho’s immigrant identity to reiterate Asian American stereotype in audiences’ mind. Ultimately, this emphasis results in Asian Americans more seriously suffer from six racism stresses.
In order to complete this study, I chose 18 articles concerning about 2007 Virginia Tech shooting from The New York Times. All of these articles were issued within one week after shooting. Those articles, as far as I am concerned, are most likely to reflect the true story and reveal the true focus of The New York Times because they are all field report and don’t have a chance to be revised over and over again. When I was looking for these articles, I didn’t look for a particular pattern or a specific aspect of massacre. Instead, I almost chose all the field report in New York Times that issued within one week of massacre. Because in my opinion if I chose an article based on a specific pattern, for example all articles must specifically include a statement that Cho is from South Korea, I may acquire a wrong conclusion because maybe most of articles didn’t follow this pattern and their focus can be totally different from the articles followed specific pattern.
When I am studying these 18 articles, I pay equal attention on both photos and contexts of these articles. “We live in cultures that are increasingly permeated by visual images with a variety of purposes and intended effects. These images can produce in us a wide array of emotions and responses.” (Marita, Sturken and Lisa Cartwright. “Images, Power, and Politics.” Practice of Looking: An Introducion to Visual Culture. By Marita Sturken. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. 9. Print.) Images influence our first impression of news. As for the study of contexts, I am extremely interested in how The New York Times introduces Cho and his family and how it concludes the reason Cho commit shooting because if The New York Times did emphasize Cho’s ethnicity they will incline to portray these aspect of Cho through the lens of immigration.
Analysis:
After analyze 18 articles from New York Times, I find that New York Times did stress Cho’s immigrant identity. There are several evidences. First and foremost, 10 out of these 18 articles refer Seung-Hui Cho as Cho Seung-Hui, Cho Seung Hui or Cho instead of Seung-Hui Cho or Seung-Hui. For example, “The police identified Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old student, as the killer of 32 people in the shooting rampage at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute.” (Dewan, Shaila, and John Broder. “BITTER NOTE LEFT: Police Questioned Man in First Attack While Second Unfolded.” The New York Times 18 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.) “Cho – a South Korean immigrant who Americanized his name and preferred to be known as Seung Cho – ” (Dewan, Shaila, and John Broder. “BITTER NOTE LEFT: Police Questioned Man in First Attack While Second Unfolded.” The New York Times 18 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.) Unlike people in the rest part of world, Asian people traditionally put their last name before their first name. However, as soon as Asian people leave their countries for another country, like U.S., they start to put their last name after their first name to try to integrate into the new society. In Cho’s case, Cho’s family even issued a statement “The family preferred to refer to their son as Seung-Hui Cho, rather than Cho Seung-Hui, the more traditional Korean formation the university used when identifying him on Tuesday.” (Urbina, Ian, and Manny Fernandez. “Memorial Services Held in U.S. and Around the World.” The New York Times 21 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.) The reason that Asian Americans like Cho’s family switch the place of their first name and last name is to integrate into the living style of U.S., to be an American instead of an Asian. But most of coverage of The New York Times still used Cho’s more traditional Korean formation name – Cho Seung-Hui as if he arrived the day before he committed shooting.
Secondly, three articles directly imply Cho is a copycat of a violent 2004South Korean film Oldboy “Several posting on Inernet film sites noticed a similarity between the poses and scenes from Oldboy, a violent 2004 South Korean film” (Dewan, Shaila, and Marc Santora. “University Officials Knew in Autumn 2005 of Troubled State of Gunman.” The New York Times 19 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.), “A photograph of Mr. Cho wielding hammer was thought by some commentators to resemble an image of the South Korean actor Choi Min-sik doing something similar in “Oldboy,” a bloody and critically esteemed revenger’s tragedy directed by Park Chanwook. That both the film and Mr. Cho are Korean seemed full of significance, though it was not always easy to say just what the significance might be.” (Scott, A. O. “Drawing A Line From Movie To Murder.” The New York Times 23 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.) Maybe there isn’t connection between “Oldboy” and 2007 Virginia Tech shooting at all. Citing “Oldboy”, The New York Times simple wanted to prove Cho’s crime motive come from South Korea rather than U.S. And this implication further emphasizes Cho’s immigrant identity.
Thirdly, the New York Times purposely chose the photos that can stress Cho’s immigrant identity. Nine out of 18 articles used at least one photo in their coverage. Three of them include photos about Cho and his family, another four includes about survival victims and two include photos about Cho’s family and other Asian Americans. In three photos about Cho, one is Cho’s ID card photo, one come from Cho’s high school yearbook and another one is an image he sent to NBC News during the two hours between the two sets of shootings.(photos are posted at the end of paper) On both ID card photo and yearbook photo, Cho looks like a stereotypically Asian American because no smile is on his face, he is wearing a glasses and he seems isolated. We are even able to find sadness on his face. One article described it “like he had a broken heart” (Kleinfield, N. R. “Before Deadly Rage, A Lifetime Consumed By a Troubling Silence.” The New York Times 22 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.) Normally, when people are going to take a photo, they will tend to take off their glasses. But in Cho’s photos, he still had his glasses on, which makes him look like a nerd. His eyes are so empty. It seems that he have too much energy on studies. Ultimately, both photos leave audiences a negative impression somehow – this guy is quiet, isolated and weird. At first, I thought that these photos are mug shots instead of a happy yearbook photo. Then looking at the photos about survival victims, we can see The New York Times inclined to use the white victims’ photo. Unlike Cho, all these white victims seem to be outgoing, social and are typical college students in the photos. For example, in the image of “Anger of Killer Was on Exhibit in His Writings in University’s English Department”, the classmate of Cho, Steven Davis (photo is posted at the end of paper)is sitting in the classroom and concentrating on the class. He is wearing a T-shirt and tie, which can convince audiences that Steven is a very social and outgoing college student. This contrast between Cho and his classmates deepens the stress that Cho is an Asian and he is a weird college student. The matter of fact, in a lot of photos, Cho does look like a smiling normal college student. But instead of choosing those normal photos, New York Times chose one that can emphasize Cho is ethnicity. What is more, New York Times also used some photos of another Asian American to indicate that Asian Americans, especially Korean Americans, are worried about a possible backlash against them because Cho is a Korean American. Reporting the reaction of Korean Americans, The New York Times reasserts Cho’s ethnicity. “‘As a Korean, I apologize,’ said Mr. Park, who was a visting Flushing Queens, on a business trip. ‘I feel I need to apologize because innocent people were killed by someone from my same nation’.” (Steinhauer, Jennifer. “Korean-Americans Brace for Problems in Wake of Killings.” The New York Times 19 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.). These photos also fit the Asian American stereotype. (photos are posted at the end of paper)
At beginning of most articles, the authors tend to introduce Cho and Cho’s family first and then start to discuss Cho’s crime. “He was a native of South Korea who grew up in Centreville, Va., a suburb of Washington, where his family owns a dry-cleaning business. He moved with his family to the United States at age 8, in 1992, according to federal immigration authorities, and was a legal permanent resident, not a citizen.” (Fernandez, Manny, and Marc Santora. “In Words and Silence, Hints of Anger and Isolation.” The New York Times 18 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.) In this article, the author especially stated that Cho is not a citizen, suggesting Cho is a Korean not an American. Admittedly, the introduction about Cho’s background is necessary, but in Cho’s case whether he is a citizen or not is not important. It is the background concerning about motive of Cho that important. The whole article is talking about what ultimately lead Cho to commit shooting. So after reading this article, audiences will automatically link Cho’s Korea identity with the motive of shooting.
In Seoul, there was never much money, never enough time. The Cho family occupied a shabby two-room basement apartment
living frugally on the slender proceeds of a used-book shop… In an arranged marriage, he (Cho’s father) wed Kim Hwanglm,
the daughter of a farming family that had fled North Korea during the Korean War… They found jobs in the drying-cleaning
business and worked the longest hours. Dry cleaning is a favored profession among Korean because it means Sunday off for
church and sparse need for proficient English, exchange with customers being brief and redundant.” (Kleinfield, N. R.
“Before Deadly Rage, A Lifetime Consumed By a Troubling Silence.” The New York Times 22 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.).
The author of this article depicted the life Cho’s family in Seoul exhaustively. I feel like the author definitely tried to dig out every detail of life in Seoul. “Arranged marriage” “Korean War”… these words most of time are used only on Asian. Like Chuang said about how News coverage reported Jiverly Wong “The mention of his father’s military past implies to readers that he was on the same side as the United States in the Vietnam War, contrasting this ‘American’ attribute to his son’s foreignness.” When reporting Cho’s family, The New York Times use “Korean War” “arranged marriage” to display the Korean attribution of Cho’s family, emphasizing the foreignness of Cho and his family. Furthermore, instead of only pointing out a fact Cho’s family makes living by dry-cleaning business, the author specifically emphasized that “Dry-cleaning business” is a favored profession for Korean Americans. All these things greatly increase the stress on Cho’s immigrant identity.
What is more, this article also cited the words Cho’s 84-year-old great-aunt, Kim Yang-Soon. Yang-Soon talked about Cho is silent even when he was in Seoul and Cho’s mother was worried about Cho’s quiet. Yang-Soon is still live in Seoul and hasn’t had a contact with Cho’s parents for a very long period of time. I see no necessity to cite Yang-Soon’s words here because undoubtedly, there is a reason why Cho’s family hasn’t contacted Cho’s great-aunt. Possibly, Yang-Soon was used to distorting the fact and exaggerating little Cho’s silence. Even though she was not doing it purposely, since all of her memories are long time ago, they can be very fuzzy. Her words are not reliable and accurate. I believe The New York Times editors are smart enough to see what I see. So the only reason they cite Yang-Soon’s words is that they try to emphasize that Cho is from South Korea.
Conclusion:
More than 5 years has passed from The 2007 Virginia Tech shooting but analyzing how media report this event is still remain important. How media report Cho and the whole shooting reveal media’s attitude towards all Asian American. And media’s conclusion about this event can easily influence audiences’ judgment and then influence their interactions with Asian Americans. In this article, I only analyze the coverage from The New York Times. And conclude that reliable and liberal media like The New York Times also emphasized Cho’s ethnicity and immigrant identity. Someone may defend that it is necessary to include criminal’s family background. But when media pay too much attention on background, and portray criminal through the lens of ethnicity and stereotype, audiences will unconsciously reach a conclusion that criminal’s ethnicity plays a huge role in the happening of crime. The stereotype and foreignness of Asian American has already existed in most of Americans’ mind. So when media are stating Cho’s background they need to be extremely carefully to not mislead audiences. However, in reality, instead of preventing people from misunderstanding, media emphasized that Cho’s identity contributes to the massacre. Maybe media’s repetition about the stereotype and foreignness about Asian American is also why Asian American stereotype has been existed so long and will continue existing for a long period of time.
Reference:
Chuang, Angie. “Representation of Foreign versus (Asian) American Identity in a Mass-Shooting Case: Newspaper Coverage of the 2009 Binghamton Massacre.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 89th ser. 2 (2012): 244-56. Web.
Dewan, Shaila, and John Broder. “BITTER NOTE LEFT: Police Questioned Man in First Attack While Second Unfolded.” The New York Times 18 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Urbina, Ian, and Manny Fernandez. “Memorial Services Held in U.S. and Around the World.” The New York Times 21 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Zhang, Qin. “Asian American beyond the Model Minority Stereotype: The Nerdy and the Left Out.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 3rd ser. 1 (2010): 20-37. Web.
Dewan, Shaila, and Marc Santora. “University Officials Knew in Autumn 2005 of Troubled State of Gunman.” The New York Times 19 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Fernandez, Manny, and Marc Santora. “In Words and Silence, Hints of Anger and Isolation.” The New York Times 18 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Kleinfield, N. R. “Before Deadly Rage, A Lifetime Consumed By a Troubling Silence.” The New York Times 22 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Scott, A. O. “Drawing A Line From Movie To Murder.” The New York Times 23 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Kim M. LeDuff, “The Real Price of Oppression: Fox News Coverage of the Virginia Tech Shooter.” in Christopher P. Campbell, Kim M. LeDuff, Cheryl D. Jenkins, and Rockell A. Brown, Race and News: Critical Perspectives (New York: Routledge, 2012), 161-176.
Steinhauer, Jennifer. “Korean-Americans Brace for Problems in Wake of Killings.” The New York Times 19 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Marita, Sturken and Lisa Cartwright. “Images, Power, and Politics.” Practice of Looking: An Introducion to Visual Culture. By Marita Sturken. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. 9. Print.
Oakley, Barbara. “The Killer in the Lecture Hall.” The New York Times 19 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Steinberg, Jacques. “In the Wake of Campus Killings, Talk Radio Tries for Humoe and a Political Advantage.” The New York Times 20 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Hauser, Christine. “No Motive Yet For Rampage, Police Report.” The New York Times 26 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Hauser, Christine, and Ian Urbina. “Normal Appearances Belie Quandary at Virginia Tech.” The New York Times 24 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Cullen, Dave. “Talk to the Chos.” The New York Times 27 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Lee, Suevon. “Praying for ‘Troubled Soul’ And Mourning for Victims.” The New York Times 23 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Broder, John. “32 Shot Dead in Virginia; Worst U.S. Gun Rampage.” The New York Times 17 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Banerjee, Neela. “On a Stunned Campus, Longing for the Normal But Enveloped by Grief.” The New York Times 20 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Carey, Benedict. “For Rampage Killers, Familiar Description, ‘Troubled’ and ‘Loner’, but No Profile.” The New York Times 18 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Hernandez, Raymond. “Inside Room 207, Students Panicked at Rampage and Then Held Off Gunman’s Return.” The New York Times 18 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Print.
Steven Davis:
Other Korean Americans:
“I pledge I have neither given nor received any unauthorized assistance during the completion of this work.”
Lingmiao Qiu