ABC News Consultant Slams Media Over Video of Va.Tech Killer

Michael Welner, an ABC News consultant and a forensic psychiatrist, appeared on Thursday’s "Good Morning America" to slam the media for gratuitously airing videos sent by deceased mass killer Seung-Hui Cho. Welner even referenced the network frenzy over fired radio host Don Imus by saying, "Just listen, if you can take Imus off the air, you can certainly keep [Cho] from having his own morning show."

Earlier in the segment, Welner gave an impassioned plea for the networks to stop airing the killer’s footage:

Michael Welner: "If anybody cares about the victims in Blacksburg and if anybody cares about their children, stop showing this video now. Take it off the internet. Let it be relegated to YouTube. This is a social catastrophe. Showing the video is a social catastrophe. I promise you the disaffected will watch him the way they watched 'Natural Born Killers.' I know. I examine these people. I've examined mass shooters who have told me they've watched 'Natural Born Killers' 20 times. You cannot saturate the American public with this kind of message."

GMA co-host Robin Roberts began the segment by playing the footage of Cho yet again. She then introduced Welner who, through the course of the segment, repeatedly made the argument that nothing is to be gained from showing the video and that media outlets should show restraint:

Roberts: "Haunting sights and sounds in these senseless ramblings. So, what does it all mean and what does it tell us about the mind of this killer? Joining us now is forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Michael Welner. I even saw you as you were watching this disturbing video. All accounts from people that he knew, he was a quiet kid, sunglasses, hat pulled down. That's not what we see in the video."

Dr. Michael Welner: "Well, I think that's very important for the viewing audience to understand. This is not him. These videos do not help us understand him. They distort him. He was meek. He was quiet and-- This is a PR tape of him trying to turn himself into a Quentin Tarantino character. And this is precisely why this should not be released. Parents, you should cut the pictures out of the newspaper. Do not let your children see it. You should take them out of the room when these videos are shown. Because he's paranoid and his agenda of blaming the rest of the world is on unedited."

According to Welner, his professional opinion is that little can be drawn from the tapes and the media is only validating Cho's desires. He added, "I've read disturbing plays. You get to page two, you see that it's delusional and irrational and you put it away. There's nothing to learn from this except it gives it validation."

Shortly thereafter, the ABC consultant attacked the airing of the Cho tape again and then referenced the tragedy that NBC suffered in the 1994 murder of Theron Montgomery, a network employee outside the stage of the "Today" show. According to Welner, in light of this, NBC should have shown more restraint with the Virginia Tech massacre:

Welner: "I worked on the NBC 'Today' show shooter. The irony of NBC releasing this tape, But for the grace of god, Theron Montgomery, rest in peace, confronted--"

Roberts: "Stage hand."

Welner: "–William Tager, the stage hand at the door. William Tager was ready to go in there and shoot everyone at NBC. There has to be some sense of recognition. This is a cry for immortality. We cannot give that to him. He was a person with paranoia. He was a person who was a failure. That doesn't come across on this video."

Co-host Roberts appeared defensive at times. In response to Welner’s point that the widely circulated video portrays Cho as he wanted to be see, not as he was, she started to state that everyone is airing the video. Welner simply gut her off and stated, "It's not an issue of blame, Robin. It's an appeal. Please stop now."

The GMA anchor also seemed cognizant of the backlash over the airing of the video. She closed the interview by repeating the media’s constant refrain of how agonizing the decision was for the network. Welner, however, wasn’t through. He compared Cho’s posthumous attention to that of the acclaim given to Palestinian suicide bombers who have "articles written about themselves in the New York Times":

Roberts: "Well, we've had a heated debate in our own newsroom, into what to show and own newsroom as to what to show and what not to show and what is newsworthy and how much can we learn. How much– In what your saying in showing this– And our message board has lit up saying--"

Welner: "You don't learn from this. As a psychiatrist, you don't learn from this. Because this is what he wants you to see. And the issue of someone who is paranoid is looking at the parameters of his life, interviewing the people who, who know him as you, as Chris, as Terry Moran, as the very responsible people, my colleagues here at ABC News, because I'm a consultant here and certainly as open to criticism as anybody. That's where the portrayal of him he has constructed in this age of new media, the equivalent of what the Palestinian children do. They turn themselves into icons. They get articles written about themselves in the New York Times and all of their, their, their colleagues, all their people around them who are told to blow themselves up see, 'Oh, yeah, you can be a hero and we'll make a wall poster out of you.' No, no, no. This is perversion. "

A transcript of the segment, which aired at 7:31am on April 19, follows:

Robin Roberts: "But we have, first, more on the mind of a killer. It's on full display in the video footage that Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho mailed to NBC's headquarters in New York City. Authorities believe he actually mailed the video in between his two sets of shootings. A warning -- the video, extremely disturbing. This is part of what he said, including new comments released this morning, all recorded on the day he killed 32 people. A chilling window into his frightening thoughts."

[Clip of Cho]

Roberts: "Haunting sights and sounds in these senseless ramblings. So, what does it all mean and what does it tell us about the mind of this killer? Joining us now is forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Michael Welner. I even saw you as you were watching this disturbing video. All accounts from people that he knew, he was a quiet kid, sunglasses, hat pulled down. That's not what we see in the video."

Dr. Michael Welner: "Well, I think that's very important for the viewing audience to understand. This is not him. These videos do not help us understand him. They distort him. He was meek. He was quiet and-- This is a PR tape of him trying to turn himself into a Quentin Tarantino character. And this is precisely why this should not be released. Parents, you should cut the pictures out of the newspaper. Do not let your children see it. You should take them out of the room when these videos are shown. Because he's paranoid and his agenda of blaming the rest of the world is on unedited. As a forensic psychiatrist--"

Roberts: "Right."

Welner: "--Look, I've read disturbing plays. You get to page two, you see that it's delusional and irrational and you put it away. There's nothing to learn from this except it gives it validation. If this rambling showed up in an emergency room, my colleagues and I would listen, listen carefully and when we reflected that it was delusional, would go see the next patient and start the medication. This makes it sound rational. It makes it sound like he was tormented. He wasn't. He wasn't. This was Blacksburg."

Roberts: "I'm glad you said this because the school is coming under criticism. The medication he may or may not have been on."

Welner: "School? School?"

Roberts: "It's like, everybody is blaming everybody except for his own actions. And you said, if he came, you've a doctor, you've seen these kind of cases, if he came to you in your emergency room, what would you have done?"

Welner: "Well, in an emergency room, again, unless someone is at high risk, then there's nothing you can do. And he presented to mental health authorities, he's certainly capable of presenting himself quietly. If anybody cares about the victims in Blacksburg and if anybody cares about their children, stop showing this video now. Take it off the internet. Let it be relegated to YouTube. This is a social catastrophe. Showing the video is a social catastrophe. I promise you the disaffected will watch him the way they watched 'Natural Born Killers.' I know. I examine these people. I've examined mass shooters who have told me they've watched 'Natural Born Killers' 20 times. You cannot saturate the American public with this kind of message. I worked on the NBC 'Today' show shooter. The irony of NBC releasing this tape, But for the grace of god, Theron Montgomery, rest in peace, confronted--"

Roberts: "Stage hand."

Welner: "–William Tager, the stage hand at the door. William Tager was ready to go in there and shoot everyone at NBC. There has to be some sense of recognition. This is a cry for immortality. We cannot give that to him. He was a person with paranoia. He was a person who was a failure. That doesn't come across on this video."

Roberts: "But you can't just blame the network because we, everyone, everyone--"

Welner: "It's not an issue of blame, Robin. It's an appeal. Please stop now. That's all."

Roberts: "I know. So many agree with you. Our message board-- I know--"

Welner: "Everyone means well. Everyone means well. But we can still stop now and, and dismiss it."

Roberts: "You're right."

Welner: "Just listen, if you can take Imus off the air, you can certainly keep him from having his own morning show."

Roberts: "Well, we've had a heated debate in our own newsroom, into what to show and own newsroom as to what to show and what not to show and what is newsworthy and how much can we learn. How much– In what your saying in showing this– And our message board has lit up saying--"

Welner: "You don't learn from this. As a psychiatrist, you don't learn from this. Because this is what he wants you to see. And the issue of someone who is paranoid is looking at the parameters of his life, interviewing the people who, who know him as you, as Chris, as Terry Moran, as the very responsible people, my colleagues here at ABC News, because I'm a consultant here and certainly as open to criticism as anybody. That's where the portrayal of him he has constructed in this age of new media, the equivalent of what the Palestinian children do. They turn themselves into icons. They get articles written about themselves in the New York Times and all of their, their, their colleagues, all their people around them who are told to blow themselves up see, 'Oh, yeah, you can be a hero and we'll make a wall poster out of you.' No, no, no. This is perversion. These people are perverts. We have to send a message to alienated people, you know what? You hate everyone around you? You're paranoid. You're alienated. You're sad. You're depressed. But these people are perverts. Do not follow their way. They're not icons. They're the not powerful. He's a weakling. He needs to create an produce his own picture in order to give himself a sense of power. Nobody saw him that way. He didn't see himself that way. And that's why he set this up and he did this to achieve immortality. We have to stop giving him that and we can do it now."