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Every time a lunatic opens fire on people the media have just as much blood if not more on their hands than the NRA. The NRA encourages responsible gun ownership; the media (and Hollywood) sensationalize murder. It's high time for the media to start acting more responsibly in their coverage of violent crime.
In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, mainstream media has guaranteed more mass shootings will transpire in the future. By showcasing murderers as cult-like antiheroes, extreme acts of violence are glorified -- prompting dissatisfied and troubled individuals to act out while innocent bystanders pay the price. Crime experts and concerned citizens both agree -- a boycott of sensationalist media is essential if we are ever to curb this disturbing trend.
You might not have noticed, but the mass media rarely reports on suicides, particularly teen suicides. When it does, the coverage is careful, understated, and dampened. This is no accident: Following guidelines endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Mental Health, the media carefully and voluntarily avoids sensationalizing such deaths especially among teenagers.
This is for good reason: Suicide, especially among teens, is contagious. It's a morbidly attractive idea that offers an established path of action for a troubled youngster.
As a sociologist, I am increasingly concerned that the tornado of media coverage that swirls around each such mass killing, and the acute interest in the identity and characteristics of the shooter -- as well as the detailed and sensationalist reporting of the killer's steps just before and during the shootings -- may be creating a vicious cycle of copycat effects similar to those found in teen and other suicides.
I thought conservatives believed in personal respnsibility.
I do but I also believe in media responsibility. Do you really believe that media sensationalism has nothing to do with any of the recent shooting sprees that occurred right after Sandy Hook?
In case you haven't noticed violence is decreasing. You do hear about it more and sooner than 50 years ago, but what else are they going to talk about 24/7? I think the media does play a role though. Would the V. Tech shooter have made videos for the media if he wasn't going to get attention? It's probably anybody's guess.
The media absolutely has a huge part to play. The number one desire in anyone's life is the desire to feel important. That is what drives everyone. If you have a mentally unstable person who feels they have nothing to live for, who feels hopeless and wants to kill themselves, a massive media story will at least make them feel like they might go down in history for something. People would rather be remembered for something terrible than not be remembered at all.
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Originally Posted by Don Draper
I thought conservatives believed in personal respnsibility.
How about you not use the deaths of dozens of innocent people to push your personal political views? Leave the partisanship out of it and have an ounce of respect and human decency.
guns are not responsible nor are video games, or the news. People are responsible. Blacks do not want to be judged because one black person was a drug dealer or murders or all around low life, but you on the left will judge all gun owners by the same measure you say should not be used on blacks or Hispanics. It s bit hypocritical.
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