Since 1996 there have been 60 major shootings in the US. 17,
almost 30%, of those shootings happened since 2010 (Infoplease). What has caused this major
increase in violence? Some say that it’s the shootings themselves combined with
the way the crimes and criminals are portrayed in mass media.
Certain personality
types crave attention, even if it’s negative. A lot of criminals happen to be
this personality type, and when they see how the media has “idolized” other
criminals to the point of them being a household name, they want the same
thing.
So they follow in their predecessors footsteps and even try
to outdo them.
The way that the media portrays crimes has placed more focus
on the criminal than anything else.
When a major offense happens, we hear more about who did it,
why, and how than we do about the victims. The emphasis is not on stopping
these crimes, but allowing the public to know exactly what happened.
In the world of a
criminal, this is their prize. The world will know their name and what they
have done.
As you watch the following news clip, about the Sandy Hook
Elementary School shooting that happened in the later part of 2012, notice
these aspects:
- None of the victim’s names are mentioned
- The only thing mentioned about the victims is where they went to school
- We only see pictures of people who were affected
- Most of the information is background as to who the shooter was
- The shooter’s full name is mentioned 5 times, his first name 3 times
- We know more about the shooter’s brother and father than we do about the victims
Fig. 1: ABCNews. "Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting:Why Did Adam Lanza Snap?” Online video
clip. YouTube. YouTube, Dec. 14,
2012. Web. Mar. 18, 2013.
The video tells us that the shooter went from “obscurity to
infamy” because of his actions. We don’t know exactly why he acted the way he
did, but he received national recognition for it.
Could the news be the start of a game of criminal dominoes?
Could the way the media portrays criminal stories be causing more crimes than
peace?
The answer is yes. When dealing with criminal minds who don’t
think soundly, we must carefully find ways to limit their effects on the public, which includes their future criminal descendants.
Work Cited
"Time Line of Worldwide School and Mass Shootings." Infoplease. Infoplease, 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. <http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777958.html>.
First off, let me say that I completely agree with you. America's media is having a profound impact on the way that we portray criminals and their behavior in a way that glorifies their actions. Every time you turn on the television, you hear a story about the criminal, not the victims. I know you said that we should limit their influence on the public, but how do you propose to do this? When I was on the high school newspaper staff, we had specific policies about writing about the death of an individual. We had to carefully pick our words and make sure that we didn't describe their death in detail or glorify it in any way so as to avoid future copycats. Do you think a similar system should be implemented for all forms of mass media, specifically TV and newspapers? If so, how do you propose that we would go about this?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input! I think something that could help with what's shown in the media is to limit the number of times a story can be told, or the length that certain types of reports can be. I think that this will force the media to portray only certain facts about the crimes and limit the amount that certain stories can be in the public eye.
DeleteI also agree with you that the media needs to stop popularizing crime and criminals. The statistics you used at the beginning of this post added validity to your argument. I think it would be interesting if you addressed how or if gender plays a role in the increasing shootings. It seems as if males make up the majority of the criminals in these types of school shootings. Do you think there is a reason for this?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input! Gender isn't something that I had thought about addressing in the paper before. I had originally planned on talking about what types of personalities and backgrounds these people have and come from, but I like the idea of including something about gender as well. So thank you for that suggestion, as I definitely think that it might play a role in this.
DeleteI really love this unique stance you're taking. I haven't put to much thought into the fact that criminals want any form of attention, even if it be negative. Why don't you consider adressing the fact that recieving positive national attention is much nore difficult than recieving negative national attention. Why is that?? Also, maybe consider adressing the characteristics of these criminals. Were they neglected when they were younger? Why would they want this negative attention and risk putting the rest of their life in jeopardy rather than live a crime-free life? Also, what should be the solution? How do we get people aware of the situations without giving too much publicity to the criminals??
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input! I had definitely planned on talking about who these people are, where they come from, what kind of personalities they have, and how that influences why they may have committed these crimes. I'm glad to know that you considered that useful information as well. Thanks!
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