The
News Media and journalists alike have always had the ability to highlight
events and convey their importance of them by the amount of time a story is
given. The news media has a very powerful role in how people view and think
about what is important in society. One power that the platform of News Media
has is the ability to agenda set and frame stories, as they seem fit. Agenda
setting entails, "The idea that media don't tell people what to think, but
what to think about" (Baran, 293). Other ways that the media sets agenda
is through their vividness of presentation, position of the story as well as
priming. Following the December 14th Newtown Elementary School massacre one of
the main focuses of the News Media was on mental health and a possible link to
the violence that was brought the attention on a national scale where it is now
a political hot point that could bring change to the country.
Since
the massacre story broke on the morning of December 14th, it became an instant
lead story that got the nations attention. Just as Columbine shootings took
over the country, there has always been the idea in media as "if it bleeds
it leads". The News Media positioned the story as a lead so it could get
the most attention possible. A vivid picture was painted of the shooter Adam Lanza
who killed 26 people and suffered from a mental illness.
The
conversation quickly turned from reporting on the actually events to mental
health and violence. Within hours of the shootings it was reported that Adam
Lanza suffered from Asperger’s that is a form of Autism. The News Media
immediately ran with the notion that Lanza's Asperger's was one of the reasons
why he pulled off the heinous act. Although of some of these reports were unconfirmed
they steered the public to thinking that people with any form of autism were violent
who could commit crimes such as Lanza. The Columbia
Journalism Review had an article titled Lanza,
Autism, and Violence that is about how the News Media tried to agenda set
by linking autism to violence. In the article
a United Kingdom based paper called The
Telegraph is quoted to have made
conclusions regarding Autism that were simply untrue.
Those on the autistic spectrum have
a more limited emotional range and can miss social
cues, making it more difficult for them to communicate and feel empathy with others. Difficulties communicating
can cause frustration, which can spill over
into aggression. Several studies have found that violence and criminal behaviour are no more common in
those diagnosed with autism than they are in the
general population. (Brainard) UK
Telegraph
This is one instance where the News Media used agenda setting to bring mental health to the forefront of the national spotlight where it was talked about as well as linked to violence without solid evidence.
ReplyDeleteJournalists were quick to use the News Media to paint a picture that it was the mental disorder of autism that caused Lanza to commit the monstrous crimes. With the power that the News Media has people were quick to judge, and many quickly believed that autism was a violent disease.
After the immediate backlash of linking autism to violence, mental health professionals cleared up the confusion that the News Media started by telling journalists that Asperger's is not a dangerous disease. Autism Speaks chief science officer, Geraldine Dawson clarified that there was not a link, "There really is no evidence that links autism or Asperger's to violence " (Gardner).
Additionally journalist, Paul Gigot interviewed Dr. E Fuller Torrey on Fox News about mental health care reform. Dr. Torrey makes a push for helping treat people with these illnesses. He points out that only 1 percent of the 70 million people with severe mental illnesses are dangerous. Dr. Torrey believes the problem is the strict laws that do not allow doctors to act until it is too late (Best News).
The News Media is very powerful and has agenda set to bring mental health to the forefront of the Newtown tragedy. We as media consumers need to realize that no matter what the story is there is always an agenda set that many will continue to talk about for a long time.
Works Cited
Baran, Stanley J., Stanley J. Baran, and Dennis K. Davis. Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, and Future. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2012. Print.
BEST NEWS: Calls for Mental Health Reform Grow after Newtown Massacre. YouTube. YouTube, 23 Dec. 2012. Web. 07 Feb. 2013.
Brainard, Curtis. "Lanza, Autism, and Violence." Columbia Journalism Review. N.p., 17 Dec. 2012. Web. 07 Feb. 2013.
Gardner, Amanda. "Asperger's, Autism Not Linked to Violence: Experts." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 16 Dec. 2012. Web. 07 Feb. 2013.
When it comes to breaking news, the public will always lean on news media to give them up to the minute, verified news. In my mind the Newington school shooting is an ideal example of when various media outlets become too caught up in being the first ones to break a story, rather than verifying all of their facts. The error that the news media made in this story just so turned out to be an exponential one, as they at first misidentified the shooter. The shooter was originally identified as Adam Lanza's brother Ryan, who just so happened to be a Quinnipiac graduate. It is uncertain as to where the name of shooter was first reporter, but it seemed to take off in a matter of minutes, instantly creating a stir on social media websites.
ReplyDeleteIn today’s day and age, it seems that the majority of media consumers will look to get their news from multiple platforms such as television, newspaper, internet and radio. While there are many advantages of having so many news sources, it can also create problems such as which ones are the most reputable. Social media websites have really turned into a go to place for people to first hear about and react to news. In December, the average Facebook user spent seven hours on the site compared to only thirty minutes on CNN.com (Olmstead, 4). I think this statistic says a lot about where people are first going when they go online. From my experience, a large majority of people in their teens and twenties will get their news through either the postings of others or postings or tweets from news sources off of their Facebook account or Twitter feed.
After a situation such as a school shooting takes place, the news media often follows up with explanatory journalism. In the case of the Newington school shooting, many news outlets felt that Aspergers Syndrome played a large role. Explanatory journalism is very important because, “When visible, unusual changes take place in public life as well as private institutions, people want to understand the effect of these changes on them (Baran, 339). If the news media does not supply these “why” stories, rumors will most likely generate among the public. Personally I was very surprised how much emphasis was put on the fact that Adam Lanza had Aspergers. As a result of this finding, many people connected this disease with violence without really even knowing what it is. The news media could also be considered just as guilty as they put a large emphasis on the Aspergers, most likely because there was not much other information on Lanza’s history at the point. While it almost certain that all people who commit mass shootings will suffer from some sort of mental health issue, many media news sources simply did not do their homework on Autism and Aspergers before they linked it to violence. So many people these days chalk up everything they hear or read on the news as true simply because they assume it has to be in order to get in an article or on television. I was shocked to find out that only 1% of the 70 million people with mental disease are actually considered dangerous. This just goes to shows how influential that 1% can be on the overall negative image of mental disease.
Works Cited
Olmstead, Kenny, Jane Sasseen, Amy Mitchell, and Tom Rosenstiel. "Digital: News Gains Audience but Loses Ground in Chase for Revenue." N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2013.
Baran, Stanley J., Stanley J. Baran, and Dennis K. Davis. Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, and Future. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2012. Print
The news media has changed and developed a great deal since the beginning when newspapers were the only way to receive information. Since the evolution of social media and the many different ways we as an audience can receive news, this media form has begun to expand into many platforms. As Alex said, the news media plays a very powerful role in the way that people view what is important in our society. It is our main source for breaking news and significant events that take place in our world. The down side with the news media is that they have the ability to set-up and frame stories. Since there are many more ways to get news, including the internet, there are multiple sources where you can receive the same information, yet they all might say something different. “The amount of news and information available from different sources today is overwhelming” (Purcell, 6). Facebook, Twitter, and news sources on line bombard you with information regarding breaking news or important information all day long, there is so much that is given to you at once. With all of the information out there, reading it as an audience, you never know what is fact or fiction.
ReplyDeleteWhen dealing with the Newtown Elementary School shooting, the news saw that as a huge opportunity and ran with it. Before it was even on the news, and before anyone knew exactly what happened, posts were showing up on Facebook and Twitter stating that something bad happened in the state of Connecticut. “The extent to which news consumers rely on social media is rapidly evolving. According to Hitwise, 8.6% of traffic to news sites now comes from Facebook, Twitter and smaller social media sites such as Pintrest – a 57% increase since 2009.” (Olmstead).
The news media brought it to the public’s attention on a national scale. It became an instant lead story. When Alex wrote about how the news about the massacre soon turned into a debate regarding mental health and gun violence, I remember thinking about all of the different stories I had heard on the news after that tragic morning on December 14th. There were so many different sources reporting on the topic, that you didn’t know what exactly happened. News broke out so fast through social media that nobody had time to ask questions, everyone just assumed. There are multiple speculations regarding how many shooters there were, whether the government had anything to do with it, and references to gun laws and mental health issues. “Six in ten Americans (59%) get news from a combination of online and offline sources on a typical day, and the internet is now the third most popular news platform, behind local television news and national television news” (Olmstead). Hours after the shooting, news sources reported unconfirmed information to the public leaving people to be confused and looking for answers.
With all of these different outlets of news media, like Alex had mentioned, people are very quick to judge and believe everything the journalists say. In the case of the mental health issue, autism was quickly believed to be a violent disease, which is completely not true. People then were thought to believe these people were monsters because of one person’s selfish act. The good thing about news media is that in the case that something is reported wrong there is always some way to get the real story out.
Work Cited
Olmstead, Kenny, Jane Sasseen, Amy Mitchell, and Tom Rosenstiel. "Digital: News Gains Audience but Loses Ground in Chase for Revenue." N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2013.
Purcell, Kristen, Lee Rainie, Amy Mitchell, Tom Rosenstiel, and Kenny Olmstead. "Understanding the Participatory News Consumer." Pew Research Center, 1 Mar. 2010. Web. 9 Feb. 2013.
Breaking news has now turned into a race for media outlets all over the world. Social media has also clearly become the way to find and share breaking news for a large portion of the population. In regards to the Newtown school shooting, many people or the public can see all of the inconsistencies that were being reported by various media sites in order to break the news of new information. The fact is, nearly every key piece of this story has been initially reported incorrectly, starting with the very, very unfortunate misstep of naming an innocent man as a mass murderer, to the fact his mother was not a teacher there, not shot there, these were not kindergartners, etc., etc. And we excuse this as just an expected hazard of covering breaking news?? One thing that's also very important to note: As far as I’m aware of, none of these reported "facts" came from on the record official sources. The police did not officially name the suspect until well after most outlets had done so. In the rush to advance the story, reporters relied on anonymous law enforcement sources, which, in this case, were likely small-town police with almost no experience dealing with the media. Then when it turned out the details they were sharing were incorrect, outlets simply refreshed their stories with "contrary to previous reports...”
ReplyDeleteWhen Alex wrote about how the news of the shooting went from reporting the events that took place to mental health and violence made me think about the reason why so many inaccurate facts gets reported to the public and why it’s so hard for them sometimes to completely understand what is going on or the major issue at hand. Anyone can change the direction of a particular story, all of these media outlets have public relations representatives from huge companies working for them to make sure that happens, which is why verifying the sources of where you received the information is very important. “The internet has surpassed newspapers and radio in popularity as a news platform on a typical day and now ranks just behind TV”(Olmstead). The chances for false information on the internet is much greater than on television or even radio because anybody can post anything online and it could be taken as a reliable source.
The question that kept repeating in my head as I was writing this was “what kind of news do people really want now?” It’s a question we will probably never really know the answer to. Some people like to read about War and Terrorism, others like bad weather, man-made and natural disasters and crime. Then there’s some who like politics and sports. Overall, it depends on what the person themselves likes to read. It can also depend on what’s going on in the world, which now would make War/Terrorism the highest read news category at 43% of the 30% of total people who follow the news very closely according to BBC news. Following right behind that at 40% is bad weather and money. Obviously, people have always liked reading about bad things happening to other people. Money is right up there because our economy is not during very well so people like to read about the status of money in our country. I can only hope that we take all matters that affects the community seriously no matter what it is and hopefully it can reported the way it should be without being misinterpreted by the writers for their own gain due to their personal beliefs or agenda.
Works Cited
Olmstead, Kenny, Jane Sasseen, Amy Mitchell, and Tom Rosenstiel. "Digital: News Gains Audience but Loses Ground in Chase for Revenue." N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2013.