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Disgraceful Media Exploits Child Witnesses of Connecticut Elementary Shooting
The media is at it again. Not only does it appear that they incorrectly identified the shooter’s Facebook page, thereby putting an innocent person at risk, but they are interviewing the children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Hearing the voice of a child, who clearly doesn’t understand what’s happened, describe these horrors is surreal. I’m sure that’s what they’re counting on. Good ratings.
Asking 1st graders what it’s like to be shot at, as cable news networks are doing, is wildly inappropriate. It sensationalizes blood, horror, terror, and violent, premature death for ratings. This is part of the larger problem contributing to our culture of violence. It needs to stop immediately.
The media needs to talk to their parents, teachers, anyone else; they do not need to talk to the kids. The kids are witnesses and may be interviewed by police- isn’t that bad enough?
They are little kids. They’ve already been through something unspeakable. They will never forget this day. They don’t get to be kids like they should be. They will know sudden loss and the terror of knowing that bad things happen to good people for no reason, way before they should.
They do not need to have their sound bites made famous on this day.
They should be protected by their parents, teachers, and all adults, including the media. Not used for ratings. The country does not need to hear from any child directly – they can get the gist of what happened from the adults. There is no reason to interview a child. NONE.
– Unless you’re just a cheap whore using tragedy for ratings.
People keep asking me why I won’t discuss the gun laws or policy related issues today. This is part of the reason – there are too many questions, too many uncertainties, and too much emotion. I am not afraid to wade into gun laws on the day of a tragic shooting. I’ve done it before.
I don’t think it will serve any purpose today. I don’t think I could do it responsibly without a better picture of what happened, for a variety of reasons. I think the issue is much bigger than just gun laws. And I don’t think anything should detract from the horror of this day.
The horror must be faced first. It must be stared in the face and acknowledged. It must be digested. Because there is something rotten in our culture, and it’s larger than our gun laws, though it’s fed by a culture that equate guns with power.
As we watch how this tragedy is being used by the media, perhaps we can begin to understand why we never have meaningful discussions about our culture of violence. Violence pays. Violence distracts. Violence intimidates.
Notice the failures of adults. Notice how we do not protect our children. Notice how we treat even this unspeakable tragedy with the cavalier disregard of a reality TV show, interviewing children so we can hear their innocent, sing-song voices describe terror. Notice how there is nothing that money/ratings can’t excuse.
More than the gun laws, it is this that is destroying this country; a fundamental failure of societal values. A failure to value our children, and all that nurturing them properly and preparing them for adulthood really entails.
What we have here is a failure of the character of a nation. We need to do some serious soul searching.
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26 Responses to Disgraceful Media Exploits Child Witnesses of Connecticut Elementary Shooting
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Reynardine
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
There has been too much growth of two ideas: (a) that rabid hatred is cool; (b) that it’s cool to destroy whomever you rabidly hate. Add these constructs to the contempt promoted towards whatever is small and weak, and the “acceptability” of “collateral damage”, and you have a perfect recipe for what happened today.
Celesst Nash-Weninger
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 5:20 pm
Sarah, I’ve been very emotional about this all day. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard. I can see that you are also very emotional about this, and that’s because are a human with a heart. However, no one asked the children what it was like to be shot at, as the article states. I’ve seen the same interviews by only two children, for the last several hours. These children did not get shot at, they did not see the gunman or any bodies. They were with their parents during the interview, and clearly they were not hysterical or emotional at the time.
Tom 1
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 6:03 pm
Glad you missed it but there were kids describing the sounds of gunfire.
Kol
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 9:24 pm
Ever hear of the Beslan (Russia) school massacre in which 350 Russian school children were murdered???? That was a few years ago.
Reynardine
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 9:45 pm
We do not have the power to make laws for Beslan. We have only that power in our own nation, our own state (But, of course, I remember).
Paws
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Why are the parents of these children letting the media anywhere near their children? I fully agree the media should not even be attempting to talk to these kids, but these parents need to use their heads. I saw a few parents talking to news media – with their children right there next to them.
Take your kids home, hug them, love them, help them feel some measure of safety – get them away from the media circus.
Alice
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 5:42 pm
It is despicable for the media to exploit these children. They have been thru the most traumatizing time of their very young life that will be with them for the rest of their lives! I am so disgusted!!! Where is the campassion! There is no reason for this! Bless them!
Mike
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 5:45 pm
I feel terrible about these children. They don’t need to be interviewed; to do so is exploitation. The children have no facts or other material information to contribute. I sat and listened to the news people trying to wax poetic about the horror; describing the peaceful classroom being thrown into disarray by the intrusion of gun violence. Please. Stop the stupid speculation that gets repeated until it obscures the facts. Let us mourn and grieve our losses. Let us learn the facts. Let us figure out how to move forward. Let us consult and analyze the facts and plan action to reduce the possibility of future tragedies. Let us eliminate the political and hysterical posturing, but recognize that there are problems and that we want to reduce the violence and we want to prevent unintended consequences and let us then reflect together on how our actions can be made to be effective.
Regina
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 6:11 pm
The BBC had at least 3 interviews with children. I remarked to my husband that I thought it was very bad reporting, in very poor taste.
Reynardine
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 6:23 pm
The shooter has been identified as Adam Lanza, 20; he appears to have been the younger brother of Ryan Lanza, who was mistakenly identified. This makes it appear that he might have used Ryan’s ID for some purpose. Ryan appeared to have been genuinely surprised to be ID’d as the shooter; he may not have known Adam was the shooter.
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
The gun was registered in his mothers name, who was shot to death with it
Reynardine
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 6:44 pm
He was using three guns. I suspect he took his mom’s gun away and killed her with it.
Reynardine
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
AP reports Adam may have stolen Ryan’s ID, and that adam’s girlfriend and best friend have gone missing. Adam appears to have shot his mother in her home, and then gone on to massacre a classroom full of children and several adults anyway.
One can conjecture about the cause of his rage. About societal permission for male rage to be vented through violence and the role that gun-worship plays in it, there can be no conjecture whatsoever.
Therese Pope
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 7:40 pm
I have a journalism background and am a writer. There is NO way I would EVER interview young children after a horrific tragedy such as what happened today. They need to be talking to counselors and need to be surrounded by their loving feelings and need to feel safe. Most are in shock and in the throes of PTSD right now. I have been spreading the word on my social media about this topic. I’m appalled – ethics and integrity has gone out the window. This is NOT the journalism I studied and learned – writing is only part of what you do as a journalist. As a reporter when you interview people, it all comes down making the right ethical choice and showing compassion. This is propaganda sensationalism at its worst, and it all comes down to the almighty dollar–at the expense of these children.
Lori
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 8:17 pm
This is an excellent post! To the point…thank you for putting all of this craziness into words!
Nikki Craddock
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 8:36 pm
all the media that i have heard have said that parents had to give permission before they used any of their footage….blame the parents….
Reynardine
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 8:56 pm
In speaking of parents, the CNN site has committed an act of vulgarity and horror: they have posted a picture of two bereaved adults screaming their hearts out.
Marwill
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 9:14 pm
The majority of us are glued to our TV’s, watching in shock/horror every time we see what man is capable of doing, often to little children in schools. But there should be responsible media coverage. Families should not be approached, or photographed in their grief, wild fantasies about why someone could do what they have done should be left to the mental health experts, and conclusions should be left to the coroner and his findings. We can speculate among ourselves, however, the media should just report the facts, as they come to hand.
Rob Major
Dec. 14th, 2012 at 11:49 pm
It doesn’t help to just blame a faceless, nameless “media.” The “media” isn’t talking to the kids. Some reporter, with a name, who writes for a publication, also with a name (and reputation), is talking to the kids. Get their names! Publish their names! Then we will know exactly who to write to, who to complain about, who to demand be disciplined for such egregious behavior. When enough people express outrage over the disgusting antics of a specific reporter, to that reporter’s boss/company, maybe there will be some actual consequences to the Reporter. I’m sick of the hand-wringing about “the media.” These are identifiable people, who should be personally and publicly confronted and called to account for their outrageous behavior.
Mike
Dec. 15th, 2012 at 2:05 am
It’s not just the reporter; it’s also the editors, publishers, managers, directors and all of the others who take the reporters’ work and air it to the world.
MsPithy
Dec. 15th, 2012 at 12:38 pm
I respectfully, disagree.
Talking about experiencing a trauma, helps the survivors recover. As a matter of fact, it is probably the only thing that does.
These kids need to know that the whole country will pay attention to what they experienced, we acknowledge their feelings, we believe them, what they have to say is crucially important, we will listen. And, they get to keep talking about what happened for as long as they need to.
The idea that they should not have a national platform, protects US from the hearing about the horror of what these kids experienced.
Every American should be forced to listen to what these kids have to say, over and over and over again.
Reynardine
Dec. 15th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
Though talking about it can be therapeutic to them, not to the press- not yet. For one thing, if any of these kids have to be interviewed by police or testify at (say) an inquest, this is going to present a very homogenized version of events that can have little to do with what they perceived. For another, initial interviews need to be by trained professionals who actually have the kids’interests in mind, not the sort of ghoulish “journalists” goading them for maximum reaction, just so they can feed the curiosity of the audience.
MsPithy
Dec. 15th, 2012 at 3:26 pm
I think you are drastically minimizing the therapeutic value of being heard and having their feelings acknowledged, by the whole nation, immediately after a life-altering trauma.
Also, I am interested in forcing every American, those involved in the gun culture, and those who would rather stay oblivious and complacent, to have to live every moment of terror the kids suffered, by listening to their words.
How would you suggest that happen?
Anne
Dec. 15th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
The last thing that needs to be done with a child who’s been traumatized by so much carnage is to thrust him or her into the media limelight–especially so soon after such a horrific tragedy. The media receives a lot of well-deserved disapproval for giving the same amount of dignity to lunacy as it does to well-informed discourse. With that fact in mind, those in the media who put a child who endured such circumstances in the spotlight deserve an even greater measure of contempt. I totally agree with the post above in reference to initial interviews by trained professionals who actually care about the well-being of kids.
Dustin
Dec. 15th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
I’m just happy that other people are saying what I’ve been thinking these last two days. The news media is selling death and tragedy for advertising revenue. People often talk about violence in movies, or on TV… but at least it can be said that those are fictional. The news makes it money off real life suffering and violence.
If you go onto Yahoo right now, they are promising their readers new horrific details for clicking on the story link. That story link leads to a webpage with advertising from top to bottom.
wiley
Dec. 15th, 2012 at 9:32 pm
Thank you. Also the media has been given instructions on ways to cover these mass murders without making the murderer famous and without encouraging copy cats. Check it out.
www.youtube.com/watch?fea...