We talked about the outrage that was expressed when NBC aired the video and photo images of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-hui Cho. While the network eventually cut back some on it, they reaped a huge ratings bonanza from their scoop.
Of course when other networks saw that the outrage was mounting, they tried to take a "higher ground" by questioning whether it was appropriate for NBC (GE) to show the photos in the first place, in the case of ABC (DIS). And with Fox (NWS-A) they decided to stop running them altogether.
Later NBC said that they would limit the usage of their images to 10 percent of 
their airtime.
Like I said in an earlier post, once the images went out it was already too late. NBC knew this, and also knew they would get the huge ratings they got in the hotly-contested network news race, where ABC's "World News With Charles Gibson" had started to overtake NBC.
For NBC they received an average 7.5 rating/15 share from the top 55 television markets. That pretty much demolished ABC who finished with a 6.1/12 and CBS (CBS-A) which was far behind at 4.2/8.
But when you really think of it the problem is us. If there was really that much outrage, all we had to do was not tune in and the network would quit showing the images. The fact that people went to the network to see the images show that the outrage may have been verbalized, but our actions spoke something else.
On NBCs part, they knew what they held in their hands and how it would benefit them, and played their card accordingly.
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