If Eric & Dylan had posted the Basement tapes to a TV Network.

Rather than leaving the tapes at home for the police to find ( and control ) What if Eric and Dylan had sent the tapes to a TV network and newspaper companies? Could the police have controlled there release? If the tapes were in the hands of a TV network or newspaper ,surely there would be leaks. Just say Eric sent the tapes to a TV network on the 4/20/99. The tapes reach there destination on 4/21/99? ( i am not familiar with US mailing ) I think the tapes would have been copied straight away and the police would have to be notified. The police would have taken all copies. It only takes one person to create a leak and there are a heck of a lot people involved with a TV network. We may have been able to see the whole uncut footage years ago. Eric knew that the tapes would be cut ( if shown ). They should have sent them tapes to TV networks..If only..

Maybe that's why Cho sent his pictures and videos to the MSM, that's another way he outdid H/K.

Moseley wrote:

Maybe that's why Cho sent his pictures and videos to the MSM, that's another way he outdid H/K.

Yep, and by not releasing E & D's Basement Tapes it was somehow supposed to prevent copy cats - like for example, Cho, 8 years later, who actually did mail his "Basement tapes" with the intent to be aired and they were aired (partially, perhaps but they were shown) to the public by the media.  So, pretty much, the reason to not release E & D's Basement Tapes is generally a pretty lame excuse.  Either showing or not showing 'Basement Tapes' has had no affect on preventing future spree shooters.

If anything, Cho out did E & D as a one man show shooter.

If the tapes would have been sent to the media, I don't think the police would have had the rights to prevents the release. I don't know this for sure and I am also just concluding by the VT-case. According to an Interview with someone from NBC, the channel decided not to release the full videos, the full manifesto and all of Seungs pictures, because some of them might be too disturbing for the public. That doesn't sound like the police had any control about the release.

Its a shame Eric and Dylan didn't send the tapes to a TV network. If you are correct regarding the medias control of the tapes as opposed to the police control of the tapes. We would have seen the tapes uncut and uncensored years ago. Eric and Dylan didn't IMO think about this situation long enough. They knew the tapes would be cut / censored by the police. Well then ,don't leave for the tapes for the police to find and control. If they had spent a little longer thinking about the best way to  get their tapes a world wide audience . They may have come up with my suggestion. Simply wrap the tapes in parcel paper and send them away to ANY TV network. For any TV network receiving those tapes would be like a pot of gold. A MASSIVE PIECE OF HISTORY in the making. How many teams of two school bombers and shooters make many videos that show the weapons ,bombs and most importantly THEIR MOTIVES over 37 days and 30 minutes before the massacre began. 
Eric and Dylan ..DOH!!!!!!!!

It's an interesting OP, it would be interesting to know if and how much control over the tapes LE would have if Eric and Dylan had mailed them to a network.

pg(10381) wrote:

They then discuss that they believe that the video will be cut up into little pieces, and the police will just show the public what they want it to look like. Harris and Klebold discuss the fact that they want to distribute the videos to four news stations, and that Harris is going to scan his journal and then send copies by E-mail, and distribute blue prints and maps.

I wonder what happened to this plan? Or maybe they did send them and they were never shown / taken away by LE. They could have just run out of time or decided against doing this for whatever reason.
I find it interesting that they didn't actually send anything out to anyone. Especially considering that Eric allegedly uploaded a portion of his notes onto the school server on the morning of April 19th, which could have been incriminating had it been discovered. I have many theories as to why he may have done this. But perhaps uploading these details onto the school server was the next best thing for them? The pages which Eric uploaded are from pg(26797 - 26815) I wonder how often the student files on the school server were checked for inappropriate material.

These two events (potentially mailing the B.T and journal) and (uploading items onto the school server) could be completely unrelated and have nothing to do with one another.
But i still find it interesting that there was talk about mailing the tapes and emailing Eric's journal to up to four news stations, and as far as we know this never happened.

queenfarooq wrote:

I wonder what happened to this plan? Or maybe they did send them and they were never shown / taken away by LE. They could have just run out of time or decided against doing this for whatever reason.

I think they were just really behind schedule and didn't realize it until the morning of.  They were furiously working in Eric's garage the day before and then they were all over the place - back and forth to CHS - on 4/20 - running their errands for propane tanks.  They just ran out of time.  Mailing the tapes should have been a priority to get their message out more so than uploading docs to the school server on 4/19.  Priorities, boys, priorities.  You'd think they'd learned about 'Time Management' from the Diversion program. ;)

If it wasn't 1999 internet, we would have everything they wanted the world to see. Unfortunately it's not the case, thus we have so many holes and theories.