I vaguely remember a similar situation that went viral last year, and it was not as bad as Kerrigan, the ice skater being hit by Hardin's hit man.
It was probably on the lines of this viral video.
It was also about high school students.
I can't remember the story completely, but it went viral and was picked up by big news agencies.
It involved a girl that was knocked out and had a concussion. Because the girl that hit her was Black, the story blew up.
I vaguely remember that the Black girl was targeted as the perpetrator, but later, it was brought out that the White girl was one of the instigators and the situation
swelled to a street brawl. And all because the Black girl knocked out the White girl, the story blew up and the Black girl became cast as the perpetrator.
So, the fact that this story went viral and was picked up by GMA seems like what is happening today with stories that would have been aired on a Dr. Phil show in the past.
So, perhaps, if the 'small' cameras are there to film these kind of incidences in a 'small' community and ends up going viral on a social media site, then big news agencies see this as a good human conflict that they can also benefit from picking up as well. Today, this seems to be happening a lot.
Freedom of speech and opinion cannot be controlled as it has been in the past by bigger agencies now, and so I suppose they have decided to capitalize on these kinds of stories since they cannot control popular opinion on a smaller scale anymore.
I remember another story at a college campus where a drunk girl insulted another student working at a night desk and, had it not been for social media, the victim would have been completely ignored and dubbed the villain. The victim, in the past, would have been told that her story was not newsworthy, but today, this girl was supported as being completely victimized. So, I suppose, it's a matter of public opinion in some cases and these kind of stories, may or may not get news coverage. I think the college was in Kentucky and there was a 'small' camera that happened to roll on the incident.