Regarding horrific events like the Las Vegas mass shooting, I question the media’s general approach. That is, extensive, hour-by-hour ongoing coverage, supplanting regular programming, is negative in several ways.
It reinforces the idea, in the mind of an evil or sick individual contemplating such an act, that they will be doing something important and notable.
It panders to the general public’s morbid fascination with the horrid, like those who can’t resist “rubbernecking” at an awful car wreck.
It perpetuates the mistaken overestimation of the likelihood of any one of us being victim to such an act at any moment. Yes, it is terrible, and yes, the lives of those involved, and their communities, are horribly impacted – I’m not questioning that. I’m saying it pushes us towards exaggeration of the general danger in our lives.
Balancing these often unacknowledged factors with the public’s right to know, I would recommend brief, factual reporting, carefully sourced, deliberately eschewing the rampant speculation and endless repetition that currently characterizes coverage of such events.
Mike Bradley
Hillsboro