Friday, April 20, 2007
'How do we go on from here?'
The tone among reporters and Virginia Tech representatives inside the Inn at Skelton Hall was markedly different Thursday afternoon. No longer were reporters attacking the speaker with a barrage of questions, shouting over one another to get answered first. Perhaps it was because they were tired, their tone much softer.

Perhaps it was empathy for the man responsible for our briefings: Larry Hincker, Virginia Tech associate vice president for university relations.

Hincker walked up to the podium. He leaned on his weary right hand as it shook and he spoke. Sometimes it was difficult to hear him even a few rows back. He addressed the media as friends, some now very familiar to him.

"How do we go on from here?" he asked quite literally in terms of how to logistically best go about relaying information to the news media from then on. The room fell into total silence.

It was clear we were taken aback by his sincere frankness and effort to work with us as much as he felt possible -- even despite his tired, beaten demeanor. Maybe 20 seconds passed until someone replied, "You're doing a good job."

The room broke out into applause.

For a few minutes inside the presser, we all reminded ourselves that though we are aggressive, we can and must appreciate one another -- mostly perhaps, because no one knows what might happen to them next.


-- By Michael Sefanov, CNN National Desk Assignment Editor
Posted By CNN: 9:20 AM ET