Thinking more of Roger Ebert thoughts about the media’s role in mass murders, I have to agree that he’s right. The media perpetuates this behavior. If the media was more responsible in its coverage there would be less incentive for these mentally ill individuals to kill.
Mass murders are terrorism, plain and simple. A terrorist’s goal is to promote fear. Promoting fear requires the attention of the media. If terror isn’t spread by the media or other means, the terrorist fails.
That’s not to say that the victims don’t matter, or that the community where this took place doesn’t deserve our sympathy. They do, but the media frenzy does nothing but make the matter worse. We don’t need 24-hour national coverage. We don’t need a media circus. We don’t need media hundreds of miles away from the incident trying to find some local angle to exploit.
In short, we need to reject fear. We need temper our reaction. We need to remember that how we respond will affect the decisions of the next mentally ill would-be killer.
News media have widely adopted the practice of not identifying victims of rape, sexual abuse, or minors convicted of crimes. Perhaps it’s time they add the identity of mass murderers to that list.
Or the identity of any violent criminal – until well after the event.