People are sick and tired of mass shootings. This type of violent rampage generates paranoia and fear among the masses. It is high time to implement practical solutions curbing the number of mass shooting incidents per year. Based on the 21st understanding of how the general public understands the concept of a mass shooting, it is interesting to note that there is a link between this particular phenomenon and mass media reporting. In other words, news that sensationalizes this type of criminal act encourages people that are prone to this type of behavior to believe that the destruction of multiple lives using this method is a more attractive way to express bottled up negative emotions. In the 21st century, one of the best ways to reduce the incidence of a mass shooting is to persuade mass media organizations from sensationalizing news coverage of this type of criminal activity.
Refutation
Some believe that the mass media’s decision to sensationalize the news regarding mass shootings does not affect the rise in the number of reported incidents that are similar to the Columbine Massacre and the Virginia Tech Massacre. However, the evidence compiled by the proponent of this study leads to a different conclusion. It is easy to assert that mass media’s sensational news coverage is the primary reason for the sudden rise of similar incidents in the last ten years. An acute observer of current events will come to this conclusion especially after reviewing the modern-day interpretation of this type of mass murder. According to one report, a mass shooting is defined as the use of a gun to murder four or more people in a single event (Gonzalez and Wekerle 269).
Main Reasons
It is important to point out that mass shooting requires the participation of one or more shooters acting together (Stein 444). Also, a mass shooting occurs in a relatively public setting. This phenomenon is characterized by the use of guns to murder in schools, places of worship, and businesses (Gonzalez and Wekerle 269). It is imperative to highlight the fact that a serial killer murdering six people in one week is not an example of this type of criminal behavior. Furthermore, gun violence that resulted in the death of several individuals does not have the same impact as that of mass shootings (Stein 444). This type of criminal activity creates a different kind of effect because the deaths of several people occur within a single day at the hands of one or two gunmen (Cook & Goss 46). Furthermore, this phenomenon negatively affects the members of the community (Cook and Ludwig 3). As a result, the mass murder of people in a public setting draws greater mass media attention. It is the unique nature of this type of violent behavior that draws mass media reporters and compels them to generate 24-hour news cycles to cover the said incident. Therefore, it is impossible to interpret 21st-century mass shootings without including the participation and impact of mass media organizations.
Furthermore, the heavily publicized destruction of innocent lives in the hands of mass-murdering gunmen in recent years occurred in schools, churches, and airports (Schildkraut and Elsass 10). In other words, this type of bloody carnage is always a public event. It is not hard to imagine how people react to news of innocent civilians killed indiscriminately in schools, cinemas, parks, and other public places. There is a different response to this type of crime. Moreover, people are shocked to find out that something can happen in broad daylight in a place that is considered safe from criminal elements. If one will consider the unique nature of mass shootings, it is easy to understand why mass media organizations are encouraged to increase coverage and devote a lot of resources to talk about the story for several days. It is important to point out that there is an indirect effect on mass media’s intense attention to the incident and the shooter. News reporters and journalists will rationalize their actions and behavior based on the need to provide information regarding the mass murder of citizens in a public place. However, the significant media attention that they provide to broadcast the life story of the shooters will lead to an unintended consequence, and that is to encourage others to take up the same method of expressing emotional pain and another internal torment.
Men and women that earn a living as news reporters and journalists are not in agreement with the idea that they are the ones to blame in the increasing number of deadly shootings in public areas like schools and commercial districts. Historical information was used to support their counterargument. For example, the first-ever documented violent rampage involving guns in a public school setting occurred a long time ago, “More than a century earlier, on July 26, 1764, a teacher and 10 students were shot dead by four Lenape American Indians in Greencastle, Penn., in what is considered the earliest known U.S. mass school shooting” (Lorenzi 1). This incident was considered the first mass shooting in the history of the US public school system. The same article also pointed out that mass murders have occurred in other countries, at different times, and in diverse cultures (Lieberman 29). It does not require a rocket scientist to understand that mass media groups like CNN, BBC, CBS, and NBC was non-existent during the time of the Lenape Indian massacre. As a result, they make the argument that it is not wise to blame media conglomerates for the recent spike in the number of reported incidents.
Those who are not in agreement with the above-mentioned assertion, that media organizations play a crucial role in the sudden increase in the number of mass murders using firearms are looking for alternative explanations. As a consequence, they focus on other triggering mechanisms or other root causes of the said problem. In this regard, a popular topic of discussion is the assertion that mass shooting is linked to mental health issues (Metzl and MacLeish 1). It is difficult to refute this argument because normal people are not in the habit of shooting school children and innocent bystanders. One can argue that mass murderers guilty of ending the lives of innocent civilians are suffering from a certain mental disorder. Thus, they highlight the fact that mass media organizations are not the ones to blame for the resurgence of mass shootings in the United States. They also point out that before Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold took up arms to massacre students and teachers on April 20, 1999, similar incidents were recorded in US history. In 1966 for instance, a former United States Marine climbed the University of Texas Tower, and he used his skills as a trained sniper to gun down several people (Blair et al. 3).
The counterargument that mental illness is the direct cause of mass shootings is not enough to change the assertion that mass media’s decision to sensationalize news with regards to this criminal activity is the main reason for the sudden increase in the number of similar incidents in the last ten years. The proponent of the study did not assert that mass media’s creation of the 24-hour news cycle was the only factor that caused the shootings. Without a doubt, mental illness and other factors played a role in the rise of similar incidents all over the nation. However, the connection between mass media’s type of reporting and the upsurge in the reported number of similar criminal behavior all over the country makes is hard to ignore. According to criminologists, “Mass shootings also took place in 25 other wealthy nations between 1983 and 2013, but the number of mass shootings in the United States far surpasses that of any other country included in the study during the same period” (Lemieux 1).
One can argue that the United States is the leader when it comes to this type of criminal activity because after major news outlets covered the Columbine High School Massacre, a wave of mass shootings followed in relatively quick succession (Goss 1). There is a connection between sensationalizing the news reports regarding mass shootings and the high number of mass shooting incidents in recent years (Cook and Goss 47). This is based on the observation of researchers when they discovered the increase in the number of incidents after this type of criminal activity became the focus of mass media groups (Cook and Goss 47). It is imperative to point to note that mentally unstable people without the capacity to express their anger and frustrations through healthier alternatives are compelled to think about shooting people, because of what they see on TV (Gupta 36).
According to a CNN Special Report, a new study published in a journal called PLOS ONE, researchers discovered that this type of crime is contagious (Smart 1). According to this particular report, there are vulnerable people in society that are easily affected by the news reports of the shooting (Smart 1). This study can get indirect support from another research finding that was published in the American Journal of Public Health stating that “gun violence in all its forms has a social context, and that context is not something that ‘mental illness” can describe nor that mental health practitioners can be expected to address in isolation” (Metzl and MacLeish 1). It is not good to bombard people struggling with the impact of hate and discrimination with mass media messages about the decisive action of mass murderers (Gupta 36). As a result, the FBI acknowledged the fact that this type of violent behavior “have been occurring more frequently in recent years, with nearly one incident a month from 2000 to 2013 (Perez 1).
Conclusion
It is convenient to blame other factors when it comes to the surge in the number of reported incidents related to mass shootings. However, it is impossible to deny the link between the intense media coverage of this type of behavior by the US-based mass media organizations and the alarming rise in the number of lives lost through the hands of shooters using the same method utilized by the killers in the Columbine Massacre and the Virginia Tech Massacre. The study revealing the fact that mass shooting is some sort of a contagious disease and its infection rate aided by the intense media attention given to this type of event clarified the argument that it is high time to discourage news agencies in their attempt to sensationalize this type of criminal incident.
Works Cited
Blair, John, Terry Nichols, David Burns and John Cumult. Active Shooter Events and Response. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2013. Print.
Cook, Philip and Jens Ludwig. Gun Violence. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print.
Cook, Philip and Kristin Goss. The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know? New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2014. Print.
Gonzalez, Liria and Christine Wekerle. “Survivors of Mass Shooting Incidents: The Response of Mental Health.” Encyclopedia of Mental Health. Ed. Thomas Friedman. Waltham, MA: Elsevier Academic Press, 2016. 269-274. Print.
Gupta, Om. Encyclopedia of Journalism and Mass Communication. New Delhi: Salasar Imaging, 2006. Print.
Lemieux, Frederic. “6 Things Americans Should Know About Mass Shootings.” 2015. Web.
Lieberman, Joseph. School Shootings. New York, NY: Kensington Publishing, 2006. Print.
Metzl, Jonathan and Kenneth MacLeish. “Mental Illness, Mass Shootings, and the Politics of American Firearms.” 2015. Web.
Perez, Evan. “FBI: Mass Shooting Incidents Occurring More Frequently.” 2014. Web.
Schildkraut, Jaclyn and Jaymi Elsass. Mass Shootings: Media, Myths, and Realities. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2016. Print.
Smart, Ben. “School Shootings, Mass Killings are Contagious, Study Finds.” 2015. Web.
Stein, Thomas. “Mass Shootings.” Disaster Medicine. Ed. David Hogan and Jonathan Burnstein. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007. 444-451. Print.