Creating a Climate of Fear

2021 ◽  
pp. 35-52
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Las Vegas ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Death Toll ◽  
The Future ◽  
Culture Of Fear ◽  
Mass Shooting

This chapter looks at the news media articles relating to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting incident. It is shown that this incident is categorized by death toll in media coverage. Mass shootings generally are portrayed as an “ongoing trend” and are “normalized” to the extent that it appears they will occur again in the future. The news media also debates whether the incident should be defined as terrorism, deliberating about the criteria needed for an attack to be viewed as a terrorist act. Moreover, a sense of fear is conveyed and then amplified in news media coverage through accounts from eyewitnesses, descriptions of the shooting, and visualizations of the attack. This ultimately creates a culture of fear, whereby the risk of becoming victimized by a mass shooting is disproportionate to the actual threat faced.

scholarly journals Bots fired: examining social bot evidence in online mass shooting conversations

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross Schuchard ◽  
Andrew Crooks ◽  
Anthony Stefanidis ◽  
Arie Croitoru
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Events ◽  
Online Social Networks ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Las Vegas ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
School Shooting ◽  
Centrality Measures ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Mass Shooting ◽  
The Media

AbstractMass shootings, like other extreme events, have long garnered public curiosity and, in turn, significant media coverage. The media framing, or topic focus, of mass shooting events typically evolves over time from details of the actual shooting to discussions of potential policy changes (e.g., gun control, mental health). Such media coverage has been historically provided through traditional media sources such as print, television, and radio, but the advent of online social networks (OSNs) has introduced a new platform for accessing, producing, and distributing information about such extreme events. The ease and convenience of OSN usage for information within society’s larger growing reliance upon digital technologies introduces potential unforeseen risks. Social bots, or automated software agents, are one such risk, as they can serve to amplify or distort potential narratives associated with extreme events such as mass shootings. In this paper, we seek to determine the prevalence and relative importance of social bots participating in OSN conversations following mass shooting events using an ensemble of quantitative techniques. Specifically, we examine a corpus of more than 46 million tweets produced by 11.7 million unique Twitter accounts within OSN conversations discussing four major mass shooting events: the 2017 Las Vegas concert shooting, the 2017 Sutherland Springs church chooting, the 2018 Parkland School Shooting and the 2018 Santa Fe school shooting. This study’s results show that social bots participate in and contribute to online mass shooting conversations in a manner that is distinguishable from human contributions. Furthermore, while social bots accounted for fewer than 1% of total corpus user contributors, social network analysis centrality measures identified many bots with significant prominence in the conversation networks, densely occupying many of the highest eigenvector and out-degree centrality measure rankings, to include 82% of the top-100 eigenvector values of the Las Vegas retweet network.

Policy Reform After a Mass Shooting

2021 ◽  
pp. 53-65
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Las Vegas ◽  
Policy Reform ◽  
Gun Violence ◽  
Direct Link ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Mass Shooting ◽  
Assault Weapons

This chapter focuses on the case study of the Las Vegas mass shooting. Utilizing analyses of news media content and results from interviews with gun violence prevention (GVP) advocates, it explores the policy debates occurring after this shooting. Findings indicate that within the news media coverage the two main targets for policy change were bump stock devices and assault weapons. Bump stock devices had a direct link to the shooting and ended up banned; however, there are some issues with the way this measure was passed. There was also no traction on renewing the assault weapons ban. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the news media coverage was shown to adopt a defeatist tone indicating that no policy reform was expected to take place, citing a lack of action after previous incidents and the current political landscape as the reasons why nothing would happen.

Media Salience and Mass Murder

2018 ◽  
pp. 129-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaclyn Schildkraut ◽  
Glenn W. Muschert
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mass Murder ◽  
Time Dimension ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Space Frames ◽  
Columbine High School ◽  
Mass Shooting ◽  
The Media

Mass shootings in the United States continue to be a cause for national concern both for the public and politicians alike. A key component in this pervasive discourse is the news media, which, since most people never will directly experience a mass shooting or other episodic violent crime, acts as the main source for information about these and other crime events. The present study analyzes the media coverage and framing patterns of 12 years of public mass shootings following the 1999 attack at Columbine High School. A two-dimensional analytic model is used to examine framing at both the spatial and temporal levels. The findings indicate that while the framing across the time dimension remains consistent with previous research, the use of the space frames departs from previous research, indicating a shift in the coverage. These findings and their associated implications for policy responses to mass shootings also are considered.

A Historical Perspective on the “Mental Illness as Motive” Narrative

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-62
Author(s):  
Cassandra Kearney
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
News Media ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
The Public ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Mass Shooting ◽  
The Media

In an effort to better understand the historical significance of the “mental illness as motive” narrative, this essay investigates what has been recognized as the first mass shooting in the modern United States—Howard Unruh’s 1949 mass shoot¬ing in Camden, New Jersey. Given that mass shootings were an unprecedented phenomenon, the news media played an important role in explaining the event. As will be shown, many Americans felt uncertain about how mental illness man¬ifested and who was vulnerable. Given the often undisclosed, albeit perceived threat of schizophrenia, the public needed reassurance that there would be some indicator of insanity. Accordingly, the media used evidence of religious fanaticism and unfavorable physical descriptions of Unruh to cast him as separate, outside, or an “other.” Ultimately, the media’s rhetorical choices differentiated Unruh and attempted to make mental illness easier to identify for an audience afraid of its influence.

scholarly journals Fighting National Amnesia: Profiling Public Attention to Mass Shootings in The United States

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miles Chandler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Decay Length ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Search Volume ◽  
Mass Shooting

This study aims to identify factors that shape public perception and emotional response to mass shootings in the United States. I suggest that patterns of media coverage inform public consciousness and collective emotion. Newsworthiness and gatekeeping theories assert that school or prejudicial shootings and those with more victims are reported on at higher rates. Literature on racial and immigrant bias in media demonstrates that non-white shooters also generate more discourse. The directed construction of shootings and the affective public responses they generate align well with the concept of a “moral panic.” Using all valid cases from the Mother Jones Mass Shootings:1982-2019 dataset which align temporally with Google Trends data, I analyze the volume and decay rate of search topics “mass shooting,” “gun control,” and “open carry,” following US mass shootings from 2004-2019. Shootings with more victims predict a higher volume of searches for “mass shooting,” and shorter search periods for “gun control” and “open carry.” Shootings with educational and religious targets had no significant effects on search patterns. Workplace shootings result in longer search periods for “mass shooting,” and shorter periods for “gun control.” Non-white shooters generate shorter search decay for “open carry.” The results support theories of media gatekeeping, suggesting events with more casualties generate more intense public attention. The consistent negative correlation between search volume and decay length suggests that sensational responses to shootings are not sustainable over long periods of time and prohibit pragmatically addressing mass shootings.

The Aftermath of the 2017 Las Vegas Mass Shooting

2020 ◽  
pp. 325-338
Author(s):  
Monica Bixby Radu ◽  
Sarah Kuborn ◽  
Lisa McManus
Keyword(s):  
Las Vegas ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Financial Strain ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Mental Health Issues ◽  
Mass Shooting

Mass shootings are catastrophic events that terrorize individuals, families, and communities. Research suggests that there are numerous negative consequences associated with a mass shooting, including financial strain, loss time from work, and both physical and mental health issues. As individuals cope with the aftermath of these traumatic events, they often rely on their immediate social environments, including their family and friends. More recently, research suggests that the techno-subsystem may be an additional context where individuals find and obtain support following a mass shooting. Drawing from literature on social capital and ecological systems theory, this chapter qualitatively explores how individuals frame their requests for financial assistance through the crowdfunding website, GoFundMe.com following the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, NV. This chapter discusses the implications of these qualitative frames, also addressing how various social contexts may intersect to provide support those who have been traumatized by a mass shooting.

scholarly journals Visually Reporting Mass Shootings: U.S. Newspaper Photographic Coverage of Three Mass School Shootings

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Smith Dahmen
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Study Finding ◽  
School Shootings ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Contagion Effects ◽  
Perpetrators And Victims ◽  
Journalistic Practice

Given the intense news coverage that mass shootings receive and recent findings on contagion effects, it is important to examine how news media organizations cover these crimes. While reporting the “who” of news is a standard journalistic practice, there is growing debate regarding the extent to which the perpetrators of mass shootings should be named, pictured, and discussed in news media coverage. Within the theoretical framework of agenda-setting, this study examined U.S. newspaper photographic coverage following three major school shootings. Through content analysis of 4,934 photographs from 9 days of newspaper coverage, this study made several key findings about the overall prominence of photo use, changes in photo use during the 3 days following mass shootings, and comparisons between photos of perpetrators and victims. In particular, the study found empirical evidence that on a photos-per-individual basis, the coverage gave more attention to perpetrators than to individual deceased victims by a ratio of 16 to 1. Given contagion effects, this study finding raises serious concerns about current practices in news media publication of perpetrator photos. Although the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics encourages news media members to seek truth and report it, the code also emphasizes moral imperatives to “balance the public’s need for information against potential harms” and “avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.”

Experimental Writing On Recent Mass Shootings

2021 ◽  
pp. 194084472110495
Author(s):  
Kurt Borchard
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
News Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Experimental Writing ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Media Attention ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Mass Shooting ◽  
Compare And Contrast

In 2017 the author published a poem about a mass shooting in Orlando where forty-nine people died. Two shootings in March 2021 in Atlanta and Boulder, where eighteen people total were killed, have since garnered national news media attention. But mass shootings are more common than nationally reported. A Wikipedia page, titled “List of Mass Shootings in the United States 2021,” states that there were over one-hundred shootings involving four or more victims in the first three months of this year. The author here uses a compare and contrast list, recent headlines and quotes from news sources, and speculative scenarios to consider again this highly familiar and durable trope in American news.

The Mental Health Consequences of Mass Shootings

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah R. Lowe ◽  
Sandro Galea
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Psychological Symptoms ◽  
Female Gender ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Psychological Outcomes ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Perceived Safety ◽  
Mass Shooting

Mass shooting episodes have increased over recent decades and received substantial media coverage. Despite the potentially widespread and increasing mental health impact of mass shootings, no efforts to our knowledge have been made to review the empirical literature on this topic. We identified 49 peer-reviewed articles, comprised of 27 independent samples in the aftermath of 15 mass shooting incidents. Based on our review, we concluded that mass shootings are associated with a variety of adverse psychological outcomes in survivors and members of affected communities. Less is known about the psychological effects of mass shootings on indirectly exposed populations; however, there is evidence that such events lead to at least short-term increases in fears and declines in perceived safety. A variety of risk factors for adverse psychological outcomes have been identified, including demographic and pre-incident characteristics (e.g., female gender and pre-incident psychological symptoms), event exposure (e.g., greater proximity to the attack and acquaintance with the deceased), and fewer psychosocial resources (e.g., emotion regulation difficulties and lower social support). Further research that draws on pre-incident and longitudinal data will yield important insights into the processes that exacerbate or sustain post-incident psychological symptoms over time and provide important information for crisis preparedness and post-incident mental health interventions.

The Dynamics of Issue Frame Competition in Traditional and Social Media

2015 ◽  
Vol 659 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Guggenheim ◽  
S. Mo Jang ◽  
Soo Young Bae ◽  
W. Russell Neuman
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Framing ◽  
Online News ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Media Reporting ◽  
Mass Shooting ◽  
The U.S

This study examines the dynamics of the framing of mass shooting incidences in the U.S. occurring in the traditional commercial online news media and Twitter. We demonstrate that there is a dynamic, reciprocal relationship between the attention paid to different aspects of mass shootings in online news and in Twitter: tweets tend to be responsive to traditional media reporting, but traditional media framing of these incidents also seems to resonate from public framing in the Twitterverse. We also explore how different frames become prominent as they compete among media as time passes after shooting events. Finally, we find that key differences emerge between norms of journalistic routine and how users rely on Twitter to express their reactions to these tragic shooting incidents.

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