Media platform could affect violence

The news that is reported could have an effect on people’s actions, according to MU Journalism Professor Katherine Reed.

Reed is part of a coalition that includes researchers who are looking at “how coverage of mass shootings can inadvertently create a contagion effect.”

“In other words, it can inspire other mass shooters,” she said. Reed said this is because the shooters get so much publicity.

“Sometimes that’s what they want is attention,” Reed said.

She said how media covers the event could be an issue, as it publicizes the killer rather than the victims.

“Some of the issues are repeated use of the killer’s name,” Reed said. “Photographs, especially a photograph with weapons, manifestos, anything that could inspire someone else who feels isolated and alienated and angry.”

She said social media is another platform for people to spread hateful messages. She said it happens so often on social media that it is difficult to tell the difference between someone who is using hate speech and someone who is actually planning something.

One of these frequently used websites is 8chan. According to ABC News, the website is an online message board with a “history of use by violent extremists.”

The national news channel reported “the suspect in El Paso ‘appears to have been inspired’ by discussions on 8chan,” said Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince in a blog post on his company’s site. He said a suspect in an earlier shooting at a synagogue in Poway, California, also posted a “hate-filled open letter” on 8chan as well as the mosque attack in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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The website was shut down Monday afternoon.

According to Reed, the biggest issue is still the platform the media gives killers.

“Television can be especially powerful in this regard,” Reed said. “It gives people a platform for really hateful ideas and link them to these killings.”