By Gwen Furmanek
Assitant Opinion Editor
Why are the names of the sadistic perpetrators of shootings being sensationalized as household names?
The American public focuses on the issue of gun control because of recent tragedies when, in reality, society should be looking toward the media for hyping up these villains to who they are. According to a July 24, 2012 CBS News article about the Aurora shooting, “we can treat this as news, not entertainment,” said Jack Levin, a professor at Northeastern University who has studied media coverage of crime.
The media tends to focus on the tortured souls who committed the acts instead of the poor victims of these crimes. These demented culprits don’t die as nobodies now; they know if they commit these horrendous acts their names will be remembered and known by everyone- even if it is for something despicable.
“If we take away the chance of infamy, we take away the incentive. If we take immortality away, maybe they will stop,” according to a petition on change.org, the world’s largest petition platform.
Every big and small media news outlet scrambles for the juiciest scoop on the suspects. Yes, when a shooting happens the public wants to know who caused it, but the victims need to be talked about in the news more than they are now. The media fixates on getting all the dirty secrets on the suspects. There is no need to waste time scrounging up personal details on the offenders. No one should care about such irrelevant details as what kind of breakfast cereal they ate.
The brother of Jessica Ghawi, a victim of the Aurora shooting, said we should forget the shooter’s name as quickly as the public knew the name of the man who opened fire in a Colorado movie theater, according to the CBS article.
Don’t give the perpetrators such power over the news. The media should be more concerned with doing its main job: reporting the facts of the event and leaving it at that.
Whether the common person knows it or not, news outlets have a terrifyingly large effect on the public. According to the Center for Media Literacy, at least half of the 25,000 murders committed in the U.S. per year are in relation to the impact and desensitizing effects of violence in the media. The same site states that America has the highest number of murders in any industrialized country.
We as a country need to stand strong through these violent times and remember the names of the innocents taken from this Earth too soon by the talons of beasts. We should remember stories such as Rachael Joy Scott; the first innocent person to be taken in the Columbine massacre.
According to an April 20, 2009 NBCnews.com article, Rachael was approached by the killers and asked if she believed in God. Knowing the consequences, she stayed true to her faith and said the word that would end her life but inspire others by her bravery.
Let’s always hold the stories and names of these victims in our hearts so they may live on forever.
