If the Media Didn't Report Mass Killings

Mike

Mike

Well-known Member
Location
London
Maybe there wouldn't be any copy-cat killers,
after the first report!

A few years ago, it was nutters driving cars into
crowds of revellers, that spread over Europe, in
the USA, after a mass shooting, that is reported,
there is another the following week, followed by
even more, this month it is stabbings, first little
girls, then others, finally in Germany more dead.

I am all for press freedom, but some things should
be kept quiet, I think, I have read many times how
robberies, are carried out, in detail, they even make
TV programmes, or films about how it is done.

Maybe I am wrong, but I wish they would stop giving
front page headlines, or main item on the TV news,
just report mundane stuff, and maybe follow-ups
wouldn't happen.

But I suppose, good news doesn't sell!

Mike.
 

It's the main item on the news because it's the main item on the news; the most newsworthy. Other murders will still happen without us being sheltered & ignorant. Now, naming names, the names of the killers, sensationalizing them, making them famous: maybe I'd withhold that? Probably not.
 

I understand what you are saying.

I agree that introducing the details of new and twisted crimes to millions of people is bound to reach a few troubled people that are likely to act.

Even taking that possibility into account I think that it is more important for the news media and the authorities to be open and honest about what is happening around the world and in our own back yards.

I do think that the media should stick to the facts and leave out the inflammatory statements, opinions, judgements, and endless analysis of every detail until the story eventually falls out of the daily news cycle.
 
I think reporting the events are fine, but they should stop publicizing the identity of the killers/shooters. I think that is what spurs the copycats more than anything else - the infamy. They are making such a big deal about not being able to find a motive of the Trump shooter. I think it was purely to have his name be in the history books forever.
 
The shooter in Australia's worst mass shooting ( laws were changed after that so there thankfully have not been any more) in Tasmania in 1996 said his motive was to be famous as the biggest killer in Australia.

To that end, the memorial garden built afterwards mentions the names of all the victims but he is just called ' a shooter' name is not memorialised.

Not publicising the identity does have some merit IMO.
 
Mike said:
Maybe I am wrong, but I wish they would stop giving
front page headlines, or main item on the TV news,
just report mundane stuff, and maybe follow-ups
wouldn't happen.

But I suppose, good news doesn't sell!

Mike.
Click to expand...
We still have a daily newspaper delivered, my wife enjoys it. Before retirement she worked in the ambulance service as a paramedic. Often, when put on standby at some regular collision spot, the newspaper would come out and be opened at the crossword.

Now matter how big the front page headline, it's never tempted me to read on. Two major headline news reports back in the 1960's were so contemptuous that I gave up on journalists. The assassination of President Kennedy, in 1963, and the pages of lurid details about his love life, was the first. The second, in October 1966, the Aberfan disaster, a mining accident that occurred at the Merthyr Vale Colliery at Aberfan, Wales. The disaster resulted in 144 deaths, including 116 children. Reading some of the accounts of that tragedy gave you the impression that it might have been deliberate.

It's been almost sixty years since the news was of interest, nowadays I'm in God's departure lounge, but I won't be picking up a newspaper whilst I wait, thank you very much.
 
It wouldn't change anything. People who do such killings are fanatics because of ideology or religion. I doubt that the wish to be in the mass media and become famous (because of horrible crimes?) is a motive.
 
Mike said:
Maybe there wouldn't be any copy-cat killers,
after the first report!

A few years ago, it was nutters driving cars into
crowds of revellers, that spread over Europe, in
the USA, after a mass shooting, that is reported,
there is another the following week, followed by
even more, this month it is stabbings, first little
girls, then others, finally in Germany more dead.

I am all for press freedom, but some things should
be kept quiet, I think, I have read many times how
robberies, are carried out, in detail, they even make
TV programmes, or films about how it is done.

Maybe I am wrong, but I wish they would stop giving
front page headlines, or main item on the TV news,
just report mundane stuff, and maybe follow-ups
wouldn't happen.

But I suppose, good news doesn't sell!

Mike.
Click to expand...
Hard to say. I know many people feel unsafe on our streets, and surely this is a good thing. We are right to be afraid. There seem to be so many people with real mental problems, who should really be under close supervision.
 
George1959 said:
It wouldn't change anything. People who do such killings are fanatics because of ideology or religion. I doubt that the wish to be in the mass media and become famous (because of horrible crimes?) is a motive.
Click to expand...

It was the Port Arther shooter's motive - he said so himself. He was not connected to anything.

The person who did the fatal stabbing in Australia and also the recent one in Britain - they were not connected to any fanatical religion or ideology.
Their motives are unclear.
 
This is a hard subject for sure.

I definitely believe that some individuals have read the mass media coverage from such tragedies and gotten "inspiration" to possibly do the same thing.

There are some that are looking for "revenge", "fame", "attention", or just a release of their anger and other emotions. And the tremendous amount of media coverage and editorials may well be feeding these urges.

On the other hand, we "normal" folks need to know what's going on, and know about the dangers out there.

Like I said, this is a hard subject for sure!
 
Thank you all for your replies, I agree with all of
your suggestions.

Surely, the media, could report that it happened,
without the "how it was done".

I also agree that the perpetrators of these acts of
Barbarism, are seeking notoriety, this is proven, by
the individual, who did the stabbings in Germany
and got away with it, surrendered to the police, when,
he realised that they couldn't find him!

Mike.
 
It is hard for me to imagine being attacked and killed or wounded badly. Surprising accidents have happened to me that have caused pretty bad damage. Stuff happens in degrees all day long. Pain and death are having their say today all over the world. It is part of what existence is. Somehow we all share those experiences and they are passed on to others. The way we get hurt becomes a topic that fills our minds. When an occasion arises we tend to borrow from our memories to respond.

With mass media, and hand held computers, we are getting information overload. If we only stayed within our neighborhoods, this kind of mass/autonomous/brainstorming would be more rational. But we don't know any of these people who are feeding us the info. Our new world invites us to leave our neighborhood, put together a story told by strangers, spend hours checking other sources on the subject, and then having our own particular response. To verify your response you need verification. That is usually done by "people of like mind".
 
horseless carriage said:
We still have a daily newspaper delivered, my wife enjoys it. Before retirement she worked in the ambulance service as a paramedic. Often, when put on standby at some regular collision spot, the newspaper would come out and be opened at the crossword.

Now matter how big the front page headline, it's never tempted me to read on. Two major headline news reports back in the 1960's were so contemptuous that I gave up on journalists. The assassination of President Kennedy, in 1963, and the pages of lurid details about his love life, was the first. The second, in October 1966, the Aberfan disaster, a mining accident that occurred at the Merthyr Vale Colliery at Aberfan, Wales. The disaster resulted in 144 deaths, including 116 children. Reading some of the accounts of that tragedy gave you the impression that it might have been deliberate.

It's been almost sixty years since the news was of interest, nowadays I'm in God's departure lounge, but I won't be picking up a newspaper whilst I wait, thank you very much.
Click to expand...
I felt like that after the Hillsborough disaster.

God's departure lounge, no! you're simply waiting for the last dance before you go home @horseless carriage :)
 
These days @Mike it wouldn't make much difference, social media would, sooner or later, get wind and stir it up.

I dislike when the media tags criminals with nicknames - it's not a modern thing, likely everyone would have heard of "Jack the Ripper" - it just seems to glorify the horrendous crimes they commit.
 
Most people don't remember who Harris & Klebold were, they were the Columbine School killers. Yet, almost every one of the subsequent school shooters had extensive knowledge of them, had books about them, wrote poems about them, wrote essays about them, told about wanting to emulate them, even planned their killings to be on Harris' birthday and the anniversary of Columbine, during the killings wore tee shirts with quotes from H. & K.
Even with the extensive 24/7 coverage of Columbine, and other school shootings, most did not rush out to shoot up a school.

I think the extensive TV coverage didn't spawn copy cats. But it did give the seriously psychopathic a blueprint to fulfill what they were dreaming about.
 
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fuzzybuddy said:
Most people don't remember who Harris & Klebold were, they were the Columbine School killers. Yet, almost every one of the subsequent shooters had extensive knowledge of them, wrote poems about them, wrote essays about them, told about wanting to emulate them, even planned their killings to be on Harris' birthday and the anniversary of Columbine, during the killings wore tee shirts with quotes from H. & K.
Even with the extensive 24/7 coverage of Columbine, and other school shootings, most did not rush out to shoot up a school.

I think the extensive TV coverage didn't spawn copy cats. But it did give the seriously psychopathic a blueprint to fulfill what they were dreaming about.
Click to expand...
The shooting at a Virginia University really opened a lot of eyes. In 2007 at Virginia Tech, a shooter by the name of Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 33 students, including himself. He was marked as mentally ill, but was still allowed to attend the College. This young man was undergoing counseling and thought to be suicidal, but not a danger to others. Boy, did they get that one wrong.

Seung-Hui was from South Korea, but came to Virginia to attend college. The school is located in Blacksburg, Virginia where I happened to have friends of our family that moved there from our town years ago because of a job change to the father. He taught at Virginia Tech, so I called to make sure they were all OK and then decided to drive down and attend the candlelight vigil that was held in honor of the deceased. It was a very solemn situation on the campus for several weeks.
 

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