The Impact of Mass Media Coverage and Mass Shooting Copycats
Abstract
As a business, journalism relies on attention for profit through ad revenue. In order to survive, they need to find ways to remain interesting and worthy for the viewer to watch, and the occurrence of a mass shooting is the perfect opportunity for the media to capture attention from viewers. This easy money grab by saturating the news with mass shooting coverage gives rise to an inadvertent side effect: copycats, or people who attempt to imitate a mass shooting incident, are incentivized to do so by attention and overnight fame given through extensive media coverage. This constant cycle leads to more mass shootings and more resulting coverage, giving rise to another adverse effect: the general public’s perception of real-life events is mismatched with reality, and trust in the media is at record lows. The purpose of this research was to determine what role the extensive media coverage of mass shooting incidents played in encouraging mass shooters, as well as its influence on the perception of reality among the public. An observation of a newsroom conducted yielded evidence of deliberate attempts to manipulate stories for the purpose of viewer attention. A survey conducted among students saw similar results, in which students’ perception of hot button issues typically covered by the media deviated from reality. The goal of this research is to raise awareness of the unintentional harm the media causes by giving criminals a platform and by manipulating reality, and to repair the trust between the people and the media.
Faculty Sponsors
Dr. Kelly Anne Concannon
Project Type
Event
Location
Alvin Sherman Library
Start Date
4-3-2024 12:30 PM
End Date
4-4-2024 1:30 PM
The Impact of Mass Media Coverage and Mass Shooting Copycats
Alvin Sherman Library
As a business, journalism relies on attention for profit through ad revenue. In order to survive, they need to find ways to remain interesting and worthy for the viewer to watch, and the occurrence of a mass shooting is the perfect opportunity for the media to capture attention from viewers. This easy money grab by saturating the news with mass shooting coverage gives rise to an inadvertent side effect: copycats, or people who attempt to imitate a mass shooting incident, are incentivized to do so by attention and overnight fame given through extensive media coverage. This constant cycle leads to more mass shootings and more resulting coverage, giving rise to another adverse effect: the general public’s perception of real-life events is mismatched with reality, and trust in the media is at record lows. The purpose of this research was to determine what role the extensive media coverage of mass shooting incidents played in encouraging mass shooters, as well as its influence on the perception of reality among the public. An observation of a newsroom conducted yielded evidence of deliberate attempts to manipulate stories for the purpose of viewer attention. A survey conducted among students saw similar results, in which students’ perception of hot button issues typically covered by the media deviated from reality. The goal of this research is to raise awareness of the unintentional harm the media causes by giving criminals a platform and by manipulating reality, and to repair the trust between the people and the media.
