Today, a huge tragedy has occurred in Newtown, CT. Reports are still coming in, but as of the time of my writing this, a 20 year old man went to an elementary school and shot and killed 26 people - 20 of whom were children. He then proceeded to kill himself. I'm not here to keep an updated report of what happened, but I want to post my thoughts on this event and hear from my readers what their thoughts are.
Truth is, I can't watch the coverage anymore. I've been following his since 10:30 this morning and while reports are still coming in, the repeated coverage of what happened is too much for me. My heart goes out to the reporters who have to cover this - it can not be easy.
My Facebook timeline is filled with people asking "How could this happen?" or giving words of encouragement such as "Praying for all affected by the shooting." These are the things on my heart as well. I cannot imagine the pain parents who lose children undergo, and I pray I never have to learn. My prayer is that God will comfort those affected and we can all strive to see His perfect will in this event.
Why do things like this happen? That's a big question, and one I'm not qualified to answer. But I've noticed an alarming trend in the last few years. More and more incidents like this happen. We can all recall the shooting in Columbine or Virginia Tech, or the massacre earlier this year in Aurora Colorado. I find it interesting that these incidents have coincided with the rise of 24-hour news outlets.
That's one thing I think driving these shootings - the misconception of fame or infamy on the part of the shooters. Anyone who has the capacity to murder dozens of people is clearly not in the right mind, but it may help us understand why these things happen if we analyze the people involved.
It's easy for us to just say the shooters are insane and be done with it, but I think we can point to some aspects of out society that encourage these devastating events. I was recently listening to a radio program in which the hosts were discussing the psychology of psychopaths. I found it interesting that the conclusion oftentimes is that psychopaths aren't idiots, rather they are pinpoint focused on whatever their goal is that the consequences of their actions elude them. Perhaps, then, the shooters in these incidents are focused on an end other than killing innocent people.
I believe there is one possible source for this: attention. Keep in mind I'm not a psychologist so this is just me thinking, but follow me on this. Look at your Facebook, look at online news sources, turn your TV to the news. What do you see? This terrible shooting. While most of us see this coverage as a proper way to report a tragedy, is it a stretch to think a psychopath could see this as one of the best ways to get millions of people talking about you?
I don't want to minimize the tragedy of this event or events like it. What happened was incredibly horrific, and to some I may be coming off as insensitive. My point in bringing this up is that I think we need to consider the ethics of how we cover these events.
I recently sat down with the news director of the local news station in Jackson, TN and he told me he had received a tip about a bomb threat downtown. He decided not to air the story until police had confirmed it. His reasoning was that he didn't want to give attention to a false story that would encourage more copycats to do the same. I commended him for making this decision, if it turned out to be an authentic bomb threat, he likely would have lost the scoop on the story which would have cost him viewership and that costs him money in lost advertisement.
Maybe a brief explanation of the system is necessary here. You see, news stations such as Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC are all competing for viewership. If your show gets more viewers, you can charge more from advertisers who want their commercials on your station. Greater viewership equals more money, therefore a news director wants to air stories that get him eyes.
Certainly that is what is happening right now with the news coverage of the Connecticut shooting. People are tuning into the radio, turning on their TVs, or logging on to the Internet to access the latest coverage - and the news stations are obliging by posting minute-by-minute updates. There's a whole host of reasons as to why their doing this, most of which are innocent in nature, but one reason is that they want viewership.
I have to question if this is morally right.
It's a hard decision to make. Like I said, every news outlet is covering this. If you were the news director that opted not to cover it, you would likely lose your job the next morning because you lost out on the viewership. But what is the societal cost of covering these events constantly - and I can guarantee you we'll be talking about this for the next few weeks. What is the right way to cover this event?
I honestly don't have the answer. I don't like that we cover the events the way we do and I truly believe it spawns copycats. But I also believe it is the media's job to bring newsworthy events to the attention of the public. I also think it is morally right for news outlets to make money by having viewers.
I just wanted to flesh out some of the things I've been thinking about from the perspective of a news person. There are a lot of other factors that are involved in this story. A person much smarter than me could discuss how the church should react to these situations, for example.
I hope this has been enlightening to you. Again, my prayers go out to those affected by this tragedy. Please, feel free to post your thoughts on the matter below.
