Stopping The Spiral
Last year, a study was published that looked the the mutually beneficial spiral of death that media was enmeshed in with terrorists from all over the world. By publishing and publicizing the atrocities committed by terrorists, the media gets higher circulation, more readers or viewers, while the terrorists get the media coverage their acts are designed to generate. It is a sick, parasitic relationship. Dave Kopel, writing at The Rocky Mountain News points out that much the same thing occurs with the media coverage of killers and their killing sprees. The media coverage encourages copycat killers.
The way the media cover an event influences whether there will be repetitions. For example, if a fan runs onto the field during a baseball game, the broadcast cameras usually avoid showing pictures of the fan. The TV producers know that the fan on the field is seeking attention, and that, presumably, getting his picture on television will reward him. Moreover, broadcasting the man's antics would encourage copycats.
Killing time at a baseball game is a tiny misdeed, compared to killing people, but many media decisions have the effect of encouraging copycat murders.
Last April, The Denver Post published on its front page five "glamour shots" that the Virginia Tech murderer had taken of himself, and sent to NBC. On Wednesday, the Post ran a front-page picture of the young man who killed two at a youth missionary center in Arvada and two others at a church in Colorado Springs, along with very large-type excerpts from the killer's rantings. In the first sentence, the killer compared himself to the Virginia Tech killer.
The Post might has well have a run a sidebar: "Are you a hate-filled sociopath? Are you upset because you have an intense feeling of superiority to other people, even though you have accomplished little or nothing? Your hateful screeds will not meet our standards for publication as a letter to the editor. However, if you perpetrate a mass murder, we will put your picture on our front page, publish your writings there, too, and do our part to ensure that your name is remembered forever."
The above paragraph is not the formal policy of the Post and of much of the mainstream media, but it amounts to the de facto policy.
Kopel is right about this. The huge media frenzies surrounding events like this encourages some people to act out the same sick actions. Kopel's suggestions to fix or at least minimize the problem are common sense. Refuse page one publication of the killer's photo and any words he left behind. Refuse to run action photos of the killer - as the media did with a disgusting gusto in the Omaha mall shootings. Refuse to glorify the killer - call him a killer or a coward or a murderer. Will this and the other steps he outlines stop all copycats? Of course not. But it may stop some. Kopel even suggests running pictures of the dead killer in order to deglorify him. They used to do that in many areas of the United States, although I don't recall many pictures like that since the 1930s gangsters were displayed to the press. Maybe it has been done more recently, but it might make even a sociopath think twice. Death shots are not as fetching as glamor shots, after all.
Kopel mentions Loren Coleman's investigations into the copycat effect. Maybe it is time for the media to pay attention to that research. If the media chooses to, it can break a lot of that parasitic, spiral of death relationship between themselves and the killers. Isn't it time they tried?
Other Links to this Post
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Is The Mainstream “Old” Media Partially Responsible For The Rising Death Tolls From “Copycat Killers”? — Sunday, 16 December , 2007 @ 11:14 am
By Marybel, Sunday, 16 December , 2007 @ 10:52 am
As a therapist, I couldn’t agree more with Kopel’s sentiments. When Time magazine glorified the Columbine killers by posting their huge photos on their cover surrounded by tiny photos of the victims, I cancelled my long time waiting room subscription. Small wonder that the latest Colorado killer admired and quoted these two psychopathic murderers (excused as “misguided boys who were bullied” — o please!) in his manifesto. We need to be spared the front page or magazine cover.
There is no reason to publish any photos or particularly to write any drivel excusing or “understanding” these killers, making them far more human than their actions deserve.
Tharapeutically, and to reverse the trend of unintentionally rewarding psychopathic behavior, much more attention should have been paid to that truly heroic woman security officer who stopped this homicidal killler (who yearned for Columbine fame) in his tracks. She took action when two male officers held their cover. How impressive was her instinct to save innocent life!
The best response to fame seeking psychopathic killers is unmitigated shame, utter contempt, universal condemnation, and quick oblivion with extremely limited publicity and no excuse making.