The media is often guilty of reporting non-news and sensational storytelling.
Many people complain about certain news sources, citing previous biases and incorrect reporting.
In many ways, it devalues and debases the importance of journalism.
And this is what we see happening as discussion about the recent murders of two Virginia reporters begins.
The Editorial Board was shocked and saddened to hear about the televised deaths of two Virginia reporters who were killed when a gunman opened fire during a seemingly innocuous interview about tourism in the state.
Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were fatally shot during a live interview in Moneta, Virginia. The alleged shooter, Bryce Williams (also known legally as Vester L. Flanagan II), reportedly committed suicide soon after.
Not only was the killing caught on live TV, but Williams himself filmed the shooting from his perspective and posted two videos under a Twitter account linked to his name. Soon, the shooting went viral.
There are a number of issues packed into this event.
One is the continued use of gun violence and the need to reconsider how easily accessed firearms are.
Another chilling aspect of the shooting was the use of social media — the Washington Post, CNN and other major publications began exploring how this killing, as the Washington Post put it, became a “social media murder.”
We are more interested in exploring the occasionally over-the-top, sensational reporting of this event.
The New York Daily News went so far as to post screenshots from the video with the title “Executed on live T.V.”
Clearly Williams wanted to push an extreme agenda. Before the shooting happened ABC News received a 23-page fax documenting why he felt the need to kill, saying he was spurred on by the Charleston, South Carolina church mass shooting but that his “anger has been building steadily.”
He chose killing on live television and tweeting about it for a reason, knowing that it would be sensationalized, knowing that it would go viral.
The fact that fellow media outlets cannot resist the opportunity to create over-the-top content for their readers and viewers means that Williams gets exactly what he wanted.
The circulation of the video in which the two victims were slain indicates a certain lack of appreciation for the seriousness of the issue.
This has happened before, with killers looking for recognition and gratification in their actions by attention from mass audiences.
We’ve seen it in videos left behind by serial shooters that are played on repeat, journals that are passed around and excerpts from them highlighted for news broadcast and ‘messages’ discussed in debate news.
The same is happening here. The opportunity to start talking about gun violence is being traded for the opportunity to create click-bait.
We need to refocus the coverage of this event, and we need to respectfully talk about these two deaths, or else the next Bryce Williams will feel justified when their violent actions go viral.
