Elementary school shooting reported in Newtown, Conn.

[garbon]

It's what happens when a gunman runs amok in a school, how is that "sensationalize and exploit the emotions of terrified children" ?

Filming/photographing terrified children doesn't have to happen. Not that the media shouldn't be able to do - just that I don't like the practice.

[crazy canuck]

CNN showed a clip of a kid from the school being interviewed in the parking lot by a local affiliate.  I found that kind of creepy and tacky.

Yeah there's definitely some tackiness around this from the media. I didn't really like the picture of upset kids being shuffled through the parking lot.

So you want school shootings sanitised, like they've done with warfare ?

I think it would be better if we didn't sensationalize and exploit the emotions of terrified children.  What 'value' does that add?

It's what happens when a gunman runs amok in a school, how is that "sensationalize and exploit the emotions of terrified children" ?

Let me put it to you this way, if the shooting happened at my kids school and a reporter did that to my kid - the reporter would likely be on bed rest for a number of weeks.

[mongers]

CNN showed a clip of a kid from the school being interviewed in the parking lot by a local affiliate.  I found that kind of creepy and tacky.

Yeah there's definitely some tackiness around this from the media. I didn't really like the picture of upset kids being shuffled through the parking lot.

So you want school shootings sanitised, like they've done with warfare ?

I think it would be better if we didn't sensationalize and exploit the emotions of terrified children.  What 'value' does that add?

It's what happens when a gunman runs amok in a school, how is that "sensationalize and exploit the emotions of terrified children" ?

Let me put it to you this way, if the shooting happened at my kids school and a reporter did that to my kid - the reporter would likely be on bed rest for a number of weeks.

Garbon was also objecting to "I didn't really like the picture of upset kids being shuffled through the parking lot." which is what I found a bit odd.

[merithyn]

I understand both sides of that argument. Mongers is saying that people should see the tragedy through the eyes of a child - like in that picture - because it's real. At the same time, they are children and should be shielded from the crassness that is the media.

I think that those photos should be taken - and then held for a set amount of time, like a day or so. The reality is there, those emotions are there, and they should be documented. But it's too visceral to be seen so soon after the tragedy. It just hurts too damn much.

[Malthus]

Let me put it to you this way, if the shooting happened at my kids school and a reporter did that to my kid - the reporter would likely be on bed rest for a number of weeks.

I can see the news headlines now: "scene of tragedy gets surreal as reporters on the scene assaulted by angry giant". 

[crazy canuck]

Let me put it to you this way, if the shooting happened at my kids school and a reporter did that to my kid - the reporter would likely be on bed rest for a number of weeks.

I can see the news headlines now: "scene of tragedy gets surreal as reporters on the scene assaulted by angry giant". 

I live for the limelight

[Maximus]

Yeah, that's the answer you'd expect from an actuary. 

I'm more interested in the sort of answer one could get from a psychologist - not why this shit happens a certain number of times given a large enough group, but exactly what motivated this particular person.

My not-so-professional guess: attention. You want to shock the world, how do you do it? The bar is set pretty high. There are entire subcultures out there whose entire purpose is to one-up each other in shocking society. But murdering your entire family, then a bunch of kindergartners in front of your mother, then killing her too... that's going to get everyone's attention. You'll be immortal. You might even get acronymized, like that guy in Norway. All you have to do is become a psychopath.

[Malthus]

Yeah, that's the answer you'd expect from an actuary. 

I'm more interested in the sort of answer one could get from a psychologist - not why this shit happens a certain number of times given a large enough group, but exactly what motivated this particular person.

My not-so-professional guess: attention. You want to shock the world, how do you do it? The bar is set pretty high. There are entire subcultures out there whose entire purpose is to one-up each other in shocking society. But murdering your entire family, then a bunch of kindergartners in front of your mother, then killing her too... that's going to get everyone's attention. You'll be immortal. You might even get acronymized, like that guy in Norway. All you have to do is become a psychopath.

Yeah, that seems plausible. Certainly it has the effect of generating infamy, which is after all a variety of fame.

[Tamas]

that's going to get everyone's attention. You'll be immortal. You might even get acronymized, like that guy in Norway. All you have to do is become a psychopath.

yeah I am afraid this is it.

[Malthus]

Seems earlier reports were wrong - the younger brother was the shooter, the older brother is being questioned by the cops.

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-suspect-drove-mothers-school-211145701--politics.html

[Maximus]

Seems earlier reports were wrong - the younger brother was the shooter, the older brother is being questioned by the cops.

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-suspect-drove-mothers-school-211145701--politics.html

An extremely unfortunate mistake, assuming the older brother is innocent.

[crazy canuck]

There was a psychologist on NPR that was saying that the most effective way to end these kinds of tragedies isn't to ban guns, but rather for the media to refuse to agrandize the situations when they occur. Tell the story, but don't name the killer. Give no attention to him/her at all.

For that to work, however, all of the media would have to agree to it, which, as we know, will never happen. In addition, there are always those who need to know why. They'll dig to get the answer of who and why, and then publish it.

I think there is a similarity here to media reports regarding teen suicide as high amounts of publicity may increase increase the liklihood of other teens taking their own lives.

[merithyn]

Seems earlier reports were wrong - the younger brother was the shooter, the older brother is being questioned by the cops.

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-suspect-drove-mothers-school-211145701--politics.html

The elder brother, Ryan, apparently was posting on his FB account "It wasn't me" and "I was at work". Can you imagine what that poor man is going through? Bad enough that his brother did such a thing, or that his mother is now dead, but for several hours, the entire world believed that he was the one who did it.

Christ, what an awful, horrible, disgusting situation.

[merithyn]

I think there is a similarity here to media reports regarding teen suicide as high amounts of publicity may increase increase the liklihood of other teens taking their own lives.

Fair enough. The historian in me believes that these things should be documented, nonetheless. And with documentation by the media usually comes publication of said documentation. If there were a way to have one without the other, I'd be completely for it, but if one has to have one with the other or neither, then I believe that documentation with publication is the appropriate course of action.

[garbon]

CNN showed a clip of a kid from the school being interviewed in the parking lot by a local affiliate.  I found that kind of creepy and tacky.

Yeah there's definitely some tackiness around this from the media. I didn't really like the picture of upset kids being shuffled through the parking lot.

So you want school shootings sanitised, like they've done with warfare ?

I was thinking about this some more and I don't see how the comparison is apt.  The problem with the sanitization of warfare is that it leaves people desensitized and removed from the realities of warfare - leading to things like The Gulf War Did Not Take Place.

I don't think that's true though of school shootings. One doesn't need a photo of terrified children running from their lives to feel a chill when reading the headline "Elementary school shooting reported in Newtown, Conn".