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COMMENTARY
Media too quick to publicize
school shootings
The media need to rethink coverage of
school shootings.
Extensive, sensational coverage glorifies
the act itself. It could also be placing our
students at greater risk.
If you don’t think that media cover
age is playing a role in these shootings,
you need to consider the facts about what
happened at McNair Discovery Learning
Academy in Decatur.
I should preface all this by stating the
obvious: McNair is outside of our coverage
area. We weren’t faced with the difficult
choice of how to inform our readers about
the events there. I hope we never are.
On Aug. 20, a young man by the name
of Michael Brandon Hill entered McNair,
carrying an AK-47.
What was one of the first things Hill
did?
He asked the clerk to call a local tele
vision station. He wanted cameras there
to film his rampage. He also told the clerk
that he wanted to die.
If you work in the media and Hill’s re
quest doesn’t make you think twice about
the way we’re covering these things, you
are in denial.
Fortunately, that very same clerk man
aged to talk some sense into him before
Hill followed through with his plans. We
were lucky, this time.
But it shouldn’t require another Sandy
Hook to make us realize something has to
change.
The school shooters are committing a
grandiose form of suicide. Media, tradi
tionally, doesn’t cover suicides, and is very
careful when it does. It’s a long-standing
custom, borne out of numerous studies
from groups like the Suicide Prevention
Resource Center and the National Insti
tute of Mental Health.
“More than 50 research studies world
wide have found that certain types of
news coverage can increase the likelihood
of suicide in vulnerable individuals,” the
NIMH concluded. “The magnitude of
the increase is related to the amount, du
ration and prominence of coverage.”
Everybody wants their lives to have
meaning. A school shooting is a desperate
act committed by a deeply troubled indi
vidual who wants to die and feel validated
in the process. Press coverage unintention
ally provides that validation.
As reporters we are obligated to act in a
way that informs the public but also does
not jeopardize public safety. We do this all
the time. Police ask us to omit certain de
tails that might thwart an active investi
gation, for ex
ample.
The scale
of a shooting
or attempt
ed shooting is
much differ
ent, of course.
There are
evacuations
to consid
er. There are
parents who
need to be in
formed about
what’s hap
pening. Social media reports will follow,
and that’s not something the traditional
media can control.
What the media can control, howev
er, is giving the gunman the attention he
craves. We don’t have to send out camera
crews and live trucks. The media can con
trol the narrative. There’s no need to find
heroes and assign blame, or conduct in-
depth psychological profiles.
The endless probing of the ultimate un
answerable question “Why?” is a task best
left to mental health professionals. No pop
psychologist, columnist, pundit or eve
ning anchor will bring any clarity to the
issue. We are much more likely to mis
inform readers and viewers with endless
speculation.
I’m on record saying that we need to
take another look at how these perpetra
tors are able to carry out acts of mass mur
der. Easy access to military-style weapons
is, in my view, something we need to re
visit. Unfortunately, that requires action
on the federal level, and D.C. barely func
tions as it is.
The question of “Why” might be some
thing we as reporters can address ourselves.
Why do they do it?
Because they know we’ll tell the world
about it.
It’s time to turn off the microphone
and stop recording. The next time a school
shooting happens, the national networks
need to stay right where they are instead of
descending on communities. Local jour
nalists should respond with restraint.
Let the mental health professionals and
police deal with it. If there are casualties,
report them in a straightforward manner.
Discuss the victims, if you must discuss
anyone.
Quit looking for heroes and quit fish
ing for the motives of villains.
Just stop. We are not helping.
DAN
WHISENHUNT
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