How the media fuels mass shootings and ‘bombards’ children

We can end legacy media’s damaging, traumatizing practices

Last week’s mass shooting at The Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis should have been a shocking, society-shifting event. The fact that it isn’t speaks volumes about today’s America.

The phenomenon of having so many mass shootings and school shootings can feel surreal. In a fictional dystopia, a lone gunman with an assault weapon would carry out a deadly rampage. People would say how awful it is. Then, “normal” life would continue as though somehow it didn’t call for immediate action.

Many factors have created this epidemic. One is the media. As I discuss in the new episode of They Stand Corrected, numerous studies have determined that most perpetrators crave media attention—and are rewarded with it when journalists converge on the site.

In an impassioned 2019 TEDx Talk, Tom Teves, father of a young man slaughtered at an Aurora, Colo., theater, discussed how these killers sought fame. (I covered that shooting for CNN, but I had no say over the network’s use of name and images of the killer.) “Stop watching, stop listening, stop clicking, stop liking, and stop sharing,” he said. “Write to the producers, editors, station managers, and CEOs of these news organizations. Take note of the advertisers who support those segments and write to their CEOs.”

Many news organizations have made some changes, reporting about shooters while limiting use of their names and photos, as well as the “manifestos” or other messages they leave behind. These days, social media seems to be worse on this front, spreading these quickly. But traditional media still has work to do.

Photo by Samantha Sophia on Unsplash

However, there's another media issue that has gotten very little attention. It’s one that legacy news organizations generally have not reckoned with: the use of images of children who survive these events.

There's a common misconception that the media needs parental permission to run pictures of children or interview them. It generally does not, particularly when the children are in a public place. That's why California’s “paparazzi law” could not ban photographers from snapping celebrities’ kids. Instead, it increased penalties for behaviors that torment or terrorize children and specifically noted that some tactics paparazzi used can apply.

When covering a school shooting, as long as journalists are standing on public property, they can capture photos and videos. They’re also sometimes allowed on site afterward, and at memorials, vigils, and more. As Nieman Reports put it, a survivor from Columbine High School remembers how “journalists ‘bombarded’ traumatized teens with cameras and microphones.” Sometimes, as in Minneapolis, the victims are elementary school age.

It’s important to stop and think about what this means. Children have just experienced a kind of trauma that, hopefully, most people of any age never will. When the shooting has stopped, they run outside, devastated, reuniting with parents, friends, and others. These moments, the worst of their lives, are then recorded and shared across the world, forever.

This same problem applies to adult survivors, of course. But it’s especially worrisome for kids.

Last year, the Rockefeller Institute of Government surveyed 167 survivors of mass shootings, including school shootings. About half said they found their experiences with the media “exploitative.”

Shannon Hill, who survived a shooting at Oakland Elementary in South Carolina in 1988, described how this problem can affect people for decades to come. “There's a picture of one of the girls that were murdered at my school. And she's in a body bag, and she’s being put in the back of an ambulance. And that picture was on the front page of our newspaper day one. And every time —whether it was another year mark or anything that brought the story back up—they were using that picture.” The family knew who was in that bag, she added. “They don’t need to see that.”

The institute issued recommendations for the media, including obtaining consent before filming or taking photos and from a parent or guardian before speaking with a child.

None of this means hiding reality. The media can convey the horror and get images and interviews with permission. Many parents will likely say yes. It’s not too much to ask.

Those of us creating new outlets for information can lead the way on this. In addition to fighting for truth, we can end disrespectful practices that have contributed to so much distrust in the media.

In the meantime, know that when you're looking at coverage of a school shooting aftermath, the images you see of children may have been taken without anyone having a say on their behalf. If you want to know, check with those big agencies—and tell them where you stand.

Josh Levs is host of They Stand Corrected, the podcast and newsletter fact-checking the media. Find him at joshlevs.com.

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