They’ve Got It All Wrong

Two weeks ago, a 12-year-old student roamed the halls of Sparks Middle School, located just beyond Reno, Nevada, wielding his parent’s handgun with intent to kill. In an effort to contain the violence, teacher Mike Landsbury paid the ultimate sacrifice. Sadly, stories like this have broken again and again in recent memory, temporarily paralyzing the nation each time. From the Pontiac Rebellion Massacre in 1764 to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School last year, school shootings have always had a place in American history.

As with all stories of this nature, the media swooped in like vultures, hoping to provide details to the country immediately. Although a journalist’s main function is to uncover these particulars, in instances like these, the rapid availability of information is not necessarily beneficial. Contemporary media coverage of such delicate events is not only tasteless, but harmful as well.

The media began exploiting students’ horror stories just three days after the incident. These students, especially the one shot by the culprit, undoubtedly just lived through one of the most traumatic experiences of their lives and require time to reflect and seek help. Forced remembrance at the hands of reporters seeking quotes for a story can induce severe trauma. Some may argue that retelling the story could prove therapeutic for the victims, but even the most resilient student would have difficulty processing such a tragic event that quickly.

Furthermore, in most instances the information we as bystanders receive is minimal compared to the aforementioned costs of said material. Time and time again relatively uninformed students are recorded rambling on about how they didn’t really know the shooter, “but he seemed innocent enough.” This “insight” sheds no light on the matter, but it does subject students to unnecessary and harmful media scrutiny. No one benefits from this system except media corporations’ bank accounts. Stories are written brimming with irrelevant and speculative quotes from students that fixate on the killer rather than the overarching problem.

Not only does this system harm students at almost every turn, it can also induce more violence. The media’s repeated "monsterization" of the culprits behind these mass murders can provide potential shooters motivation to commit future atrocities. Oftentimes, a yearning for recognition is responsible for a gunman’s actions. Although this publicity is overwhelmingly negative, in the eyes of a potential shooter any legacy may be preferable to being forgotten.

These catastrophes tend to crop up in bursts, and this is not a coincidence. For example, between January 10 and January 31 of this year, eight school shootings occurred. Following this strand of violence, a school shooting did not surface again until three months later, and even then only in limited capacity. Violence breeds violence. More recently, Philip Chism slaughtered his teacher a mere 48 hours after the massacre in Reno.

To combat the number of deaths at the hands of armed students, the media should stop focusing their efforts on picking apart the suspects and begin concentrating instead on what led to their actions. What the country needs at a time like this, even more than dozens of op-eds promoting stronger gun control laws, is a reform in how we deal with mental illness. Although a shooter's motives for such terrible crimes will rarely be known, as 75 percent of shooters kill themselves following an attack, poor mental health is a leading cause for such rash and impulsive decision-making.

Over time, mental illnesses—obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorders, depression—have developed an alienating and inescapable stigma. In addition to subjecting those diagnosed with mental illness to shame and humiliation, this stigma prevents potentially ailing patients from reaching out for help in the first place.

Because a handful of media conglomerates supply a majority of the information presented to the public, their ability to convey stories in an accurate and strategic manner is of the utmost importance. Cliché though it is, with great power comes great responsibility. Rather than devoting precious airtime to a biographical depiction of the shooter and calling into question an ethnicity or religion, media moguls should work toward breaking the stigma of mental illness. In a de-stigmatized world, students who feel depressed or excluded would be willing to seek out the help they need, reducing the frequency of these terrible events.

In moments of tragedy, what matters most is not whether CNN is in the black, but the prevention of further human loss. Understanding the circumstances that played into a shooter’s fatal decision is beneficial not only for the immediate community affected, but people everywhere who hope to prevent added bloodshed.

Declan P. Garvey ’17 is a Crimson editorial comper in Canaday Hall.