What if they had a school shooting and no one reported it?

September 26, 2000 4:27 PM

What if they had a school shooting and no one reported it? *sigh* I watched the typical US evening news broadcasts hoping to see some coverage of this event, but there was none. I don't want to believe that the reason it went underreported was because it happened at an "inner city" school and the media has the perception that "those people kill each other all the time, what's one more?" but the small, dark, pessimistic part of myself is starting to believe I'm right.
posted by likorish (10 comments total)

I just saw it on TV in Australia... a good minutes worth of coverage.
posted by Neale at 5:48 PM on September 26, 2000

With this kind of thing, sometimes news coverage is suppressed to prevent copycasts.

On the other hand, it's long been known that TV news tends to favor things which are visually interesting; was there anything in this story to look at?

posted by Steven Den Beste at 6:18 PM on September 26, 2000

I had no problem getting normal news coverage of it. Wasn't underdone or oversaturated.
posted by thirdball at 7:50 PM on September 26, 2000

Now, far be it from me to discount racist media conspiracies, but even I found this story less "interesting" (God, I sound sick) than Columbine, or the other shootings during last years Open Season. In this story two people got in a fight, and shot each other, correct? That has some sort of sick logic to it. A person randomly slaughtering classmates for obscure and disturbing reasons is (I am demented, I guess) a more engaging story. More people may be killed in future wars than during the holocaust, but I think we'll still be studying the holocaust because of the motives involved. Which I guess is my point.
posted by Doug at 8:21 PM on September 26, 2000

Doug's absolutely right. Two punks who pull a gun isn't big news, I'm afraid. Two punks who premeditate to slaughter their classmates ... now that's news.
posted by luke at 10:07 PM on September 26, 2000

And that's showbiz!
posted by lagado at 10:23 PM on September 26, 2000

I think Luke's got it right. The fact that they only shot each other is playing a big role in the lack of media coverage. Plus, nobody died. As sick as it sounds, shooting and injuring somebody just isn't glamourous for the evening news anymore.
posted by schlyer at 12:03 AM on September 27, 2000

and with no compelling linkage to say, internet porn, hate groups, or violent video games, its a yawner from the media perspective.
posted by quonsar at 5:08 AM on September 27, 2000

My parents, who live within the N.O. broadcast area, say that the shooring was the local story last night. And while this was a horrible thing, I'm just as glad this isn't getting heavy national coverage. As sad as it is, this was strictly a personal dispute between two teens, which escalated to a shooting. Not a Columbine-style random shooting. Compared to all the backlash against "weird kids" after Columbine, I'm just as glad that this isn't being portrayed as a Sign of Danger to All Children.
posted by harmful at 6:52 AM on September 27, 2000

I see we still bang the same drum, Brennan.
posted by baylink at 8:04 PM on September 27, 2000