Douglas A. Blake's thesis
Killing the Limelight: Addressing the Contagion and Copycat Effect After a Mass Shooting
– Executive Summary –
The purpose of this thesis was to examine the impact of news media reports on mass shootings in the United States, particularly focusing on how media reporting may contribute to a contagion effect that influences future attacks. The role of the media is to inform the public, yet while meeting those goals, they could potentially inspire future mass shooters through their coverage.[1] The motivation of fame or infamy is at the root of many mass shootings. Terrorists and mass shooters use fame offered through the news media to project their message or achieve goals of notoriety.[2]
This thesis examined the responsibilities and challenges faced by law enforcement in supplying information to the public through the media after a mass shooting. Law enforcement’s role is affected by the legal and ethical implications of the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and similar state statutes.[3] Law enforcement’s responsibility to engage with the news media after such a tragedy demonstrates the intractable nature of their relationship. Such engagement may allow law enforcement to manage the flow of information in the early hours after a mass shooting in a manner that impedes the contagion effect.
Since the news media is central to the contagion effect of mass shootings, this thesis also examined the related reporting practices, culture, and influence of journalism. The news media’s framing of a mass shooting event is born out of widespread practice supported by professional conventions, cultural norms, and ethical guidelines.[4] Journalistic framing of mass shooters could affect future attacks, and adhering to proven best practices may help news media entities balance between professional reporting (informing the public) and enabling or encouraging future shooters.[5] Success in the realm of reducing suicides by changing news reporting methods thus offers a proven template for reporting responsibly on mass shootings in a way that can reduce the potential for future violence.[6] The media reporting changes that lowered suicide rates are now recommended for mass shootings. The recommendations advise journalists against reporting mental illness as the cause of shootings, or frequently stating the perpetrator’s name, or portraying them as victims. Instead, media reports should present multiple contributing factors to mass shootings and describe the shooter’s actions as illegal and harmful without sensationalizing them. Further, the minimizing of sensational reporting on mass shooting events or suicide can occur through fashioning photos and video that crop out weapons, uniforms, and other visual elements that inspire copycats or display graphic images of victims or the shooter. Also, journalists should only quote or use a manifesto when it adds to the essential information of a story without glorifying violence. However, market forces and a swiftly changing technological landscape challenge the news media’s ability to strike that balance.
The research methodology used in this thesis involved an examination of the three main stakeholders who confront mass shooting events: academics, government/law enforcement, and the news media. This study analyzed a range of sources from each stakeholder’s purview, including peer-reviewed academic literature, official government reports, statistical data, news reports, statutory laws, and institutional standards of ethics. Comparing how each stakeholder defines and understands the contagion phenomenon and what they are doing in response led to prescriptive recommendations that could be effective at reducing mass shootings.
This research reveals that mass shooting incidents are on the rise, with fame-seeking being a significant motive among shooters.[7] The framing of media reports is a key influence that may trigger more violent incidents in both the short and long term. The shooter’s desire for fame, potentially combined with a troubled psychological state, reveals vulnerability to the news media’s power and influence in society.[8] This phenomenon challenges both news media reporting practices as well as the obligations of law enforcement to release information. The media’s critical role in shaping society’s understanding of mass shootings and the freedom with which they operate indicates that a large share of the responsibility to confront the contagion effect lies firmly in their hands.[9]
The thesis thus recommends that the news media adopt self-managed, responsible reporting practices, drawing lessons from research addressing media contagion and suicide.[10] In addition, law enforcement officials should be aware of the contagion effect, publicly articulate their understanding and knowledge of the contagion effect to the news media after a mass shooting, and manage the release of information accordingly. For states lacking statutes authorizing the non-release of investigative information in the early hours after a mass shooting, legislation changes are necessary to balance transparency and protection. For academics, the recommendation is to engage responsibly with journalists as dispassionate analysts of an event, educating the public without sensationalizing the mass shooting or unwittingly propagating stigmas about mental illness. Also, academics should avoid inadvertently supporting a copycat influence through theorizing, without evidence, about a shooter’s motives adding to a sensationalized victim narrative for the shooter. Changes in news consumption habits could also reduce the sensation market capitalized on by the media. Combined, these recommendations aim to reduce the media contagion effect and thereby decrease the frequency of mass shootings.
[1] Hannah Hume and Gregory Perreault, “Media and Mass Shootings: Field Theory in CNN News Coverage of the Columbine High School and Parkland High School Mass Shootings,” Electronic News 16, no. 3 (September 2022): 150, https://doi.org/10.1177/19312431221111380.
[2] Jaclyn Schildkraut et al., “Framing Mass Shootings as a Social Problem: A Comparison of Ideologically and Non-Ideologically Motivated Attacks,” Aggression and Violent Behavior 60 (September 2021): 1, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2020.101533.
[3] Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, “Open Government Guide,” Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, accessed January 11, 2023, https://www.rcfp.org/open-government-guide/.
[4] Fred Brown, Media Ethics: A Guide for Professional Conduct, 5th ed. (Indianapolis, IN: Society of Professional Journalists, 2020), 1.
[5] Hume and Perreault, “Media and Mass Shootings,” 158.
[6] Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE), “RECOMMENDATIONS For Reporting on Mass Shootings,” Reporting on Mass Shootings, 2017, https://www.reportingonmassshootings.org.
[7] Federal Bureau of Investigation, Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2022 (Washington, DC: Department of Justice, 2023), https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/active-shooter-incidents-in-the-us-2022-042623.pdf/view.
[8] James Alan Fox and Monica J. DeLateur, “Mass Shootings in America: Moving beyond Newtown,” Homicide Studies 18, no. 1 (February 2014): 131, https://doi.org/10.1177/1088767913510297.
[9] Adam Lankford and Eric Madfis, “Don’t Name Them, Don’t Show Them, But Report Everything Else: A Pragmatic Proposal for Denying Mass Killers the Attention They Seek and Deterring Future Offenders,” American Behavioral Scientist 62, no. 2 (February 2018): 272, https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764217730854.
[10] Thomas Niederkrotenthaler and Steven Stack, eds., Media and Suicide: International Perspectives on Research, Theory, and Policy (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2017), 10.
