Mass Media Reporting and Enabling of Mass Shootings

Abstract

This article identifies distinct mass media reporting stages used in the coverage of mass killings, and the inspiration they provide for future killers. Ethnographic content analysis was used to identify common and ordered stages/themes expressed through mass media accounts of the massacres committed by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris (Columbine High School), Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech), James Holmes (Aurora Movie Theater), Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook Elementary School), and Omar Mateen (Pulse nightclub Orlando). Many of these infamous killers reference/discuss their well-publicized prior homicidal role models in self-created archival documents they leave behind. They do not just copycat prior killers, they often relate to them, are inspired by them, and want to outdo them. The entertainment form and logic of mass mediated news provides the inspiration and fuel for later killings.

Keywords

mass killers massacres mass shootings

Introduction

The columbine shootings of 1999 sent shockwaves throughout the United States concerning youth violence. Eric Harris (18 years old) and Dillon Klebold (17 years old) walked through their high school in Littleton, Colorado; fired 188 rounds of ammunition; killed 15 people, including themselves; and injured 23 (Hickey, 2010). “News reports and analysis about Columbine offered fresh frames, transforming it from local to national and even international relevance” (Altheide, 2009, p. 1365). However, it was not just the media and public in general that now had a disturbing awareness of this horrendous Rambo-style method of slaughter, but future killers took notice as well.

Since June of 1980, the start date for CNN News we have lived in a culture, where round-the-clock breaking news is valued more for its entertainment factor, rather than impartial accounting of events and quite often tragedies are sensationalized. “The Associated Press’s year-end poll of news editors placed mass shootings as the leading news story of 2012” (Fox & DeLateur, 2013, p. 125). Eliciting a visceral response by the public to media output can be linked to a profit motive. Steven Levy (1999) argues this perspective in a Newsweek article titled “Loitering on the Dark Side” (p. 39). Levy contends that “the more violence is displayed, the more popular it becomes as a form of entertainment” (p. 39). And, therefore, media companies have a significant financial interest in delivering what the public desires to consume.

Levy (1999) also argues that consumers bear some responsibility for their choices in news and entertainment, especially where extreme violence (and the pleasure taken in the fear or horror thereby elicited by such violence) is a desired commodity. For instance, in addressing the Columbine incident, Levy observes,

The week’s coverage speaks directly to our fascination with homebred violence. The killers may have steeped in a crock-pot of fantasy revenge, but now the nation is willingly marinating in its very real aftermath: a tissue-consuming orgy of victim interviews and 911 tapes. As a TV-anchor magnet, suburban-school killers easily out space a complicated conflict in a consonant-ridden corner of the world. (To be fair, NEWSWEEK sent its share of correspondents, too.) Like it or not, the dramatic personae of Columbine High School were destined to be familiar characters in the ongoing American docu-drama. (p. 39)

It is imperative to acknowledge the power of commercial mass media as a “ubiquitous agent of socialization” as clearly, the financial power of the industry allows it to “cultivate or construct audience perceptions of current event[s] and life realities” (Best 1987, 1989; Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, Signorelli, & Jackson-Beek, 1978; Ogle & Eckman, 2002, p. 155).

This article examines how news reporting of mass shootings is formatted around several stages, which in turn are implicitly acknowledged in the archived accounts of other shooters’ motivations and aspirations. A mass killing occurs about every 10 days in the United States and they are increasing annually. Three of the deadliest shootings in U.S. history have occurred in the past 10 years: The 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, killed 49 people; the 2007 Virginia Tech University shooting killed 32 people; the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting killed 27 people. The great majority of mass killings involve guns. There are as many guns as people in the United States (310 million), the United States is the world leader in mass killings. Comparatively, “according to a study from 1966 to 2012,” where information was gathered based on the FBI’s definition of a mass shooting, “the U.S. has 5% of the world’s population” and “it had 31% of all public mass shootings” (Willingham, 2016).

Mass murder according to the most recent FBI definition is “a multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered, within one event, and in one or more locations in close geographical proximity” (Krouse & Richardson, 2015, p. 2). Similarly, a “mass public shooting” is defined as “a multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered with firearms, within one event, in at least one or more public locations, such as, a workplace, school, restaurant, house of worship, neighborhood, or other public setting” (Krouse & Richardson, 2015, p. 2). Implicit in this definition is that the subject’s criminal actions involve the use of firearms (U.S. Department of Justice, 2013).

Most mass shootings are carried out within 5 minutes or less (U.S. Department of Justice, 2013). About 67% of mass killings end before the police even arrive on the scene, some by citizen intervention, but about 40% of mass killers take their own life, as part of their plan (U.S. Department of Justice, 2013). Once Law Enforcement personnel do arrive at the crime scene, the killer is either brought down by officer gunfire or commits suicide. Mass killers are rarely taken into custody, but this does happen occasionally: Richard Speck (South Chicago Community Hospital Dorm), Dr. Amy Bishop (University of Alabama), Jared Loughner (Tucson, Arizona), and James Holmes (Aurora Movie Theater).

The most infamous mass killings are subject to significant mass media reporting and analysis, such as in the cases of Richard Speck (South Chicago Community Hospital Dorm), Charles Whitman (University of Texas), James Huberty (San Ysidro Mc Donald’s), George Hennard (Luby’s Restaurant Killeen, Texas), Eric Harris–Dylan Klebold (Columbine High School), Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech), Jared Loughner (Tucson, Arizona), James Holmes (Aurora Movie Theater), Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook Elementary School), and Omar Mateen (Pulse nightclub Orlando). In these infamous cases, there are usually many victims, and a heightened interest by the mass media and public. In the more ordinary instances of mass killing, there are usually fewer victims, from small communities, and less dramatic circumstances for the killings.

Literature Review

Recent academic researchers in their quest to study the accuracy of media coverage on mass killings and/or the media’s effects on mass murderers have conducted database-driven studies with a variety of applied statistical models. The findings of Towers, Gomez-Lievano, Khan, Mubayi, and Castillo-Chavez (2015) in their article titled “Contagion in Mass Killings and School Shootings” found that overall, the media provides a distorted view in their early reports concerning the number of victims, correct name of the shooter, and weapons used. In addition, researchers Huff-Corzie et al. (2014) in their article titled “Shooting for Accuracy: Comparing Data Sources on Mass Murder” found that the media often provides a “disproportionate coverage of selected crimes, notably murders and other violent offences” (p. 108). Researchers Huff-Corzie et al. also state that currently there are “no existing databases to provide information on the perpetrator’s motivation or background, their family and occupational status, or recent losses, for example job termination, academic failure, divorce, which may trigger a mass killing” (p. 119). Towers et al. say, “because so many perpetrators of these acts commit suicide, we likely may never know on a case-by-case basis who was inspired by similar prior acts” (p. 9). This problematic issue speaks directly to the importance of this research article, which is an analysis of the personal documents generated by the killers themselves that offer substantial insight into the minds of these killers and the media’s influence (Towers et al., 2015).

Method

Ethnographic content analysis (ECA) was used in this research (Altheide, 1996; Altheide & Schneider, 2013). To discern the media stages of reporting mass killings, the analytic induction method was first used to identify the boundaries of the stages, and then subsequent observations of mass media reporting were used to test and change as needed, being especially sensitive to any “negative cases” which are helpful to produce greater precision in the categories. The skillful and sensitive judgment involved here was significantly influenced by the author’s prior experience with violent offenders as a probation officer in charge of specialized sex offender cases.

To connect the mass media reports of mass killings to subsequent influences on mass killers, it is important to understand a time-ordered sequence of events. Context or circumstances surrounding the creation of these documents are important. Temporal proximity of the incident must be taken into account when unraveling the originator’s meaning, “assumptions, motives, and intended consequences” by creating the material (Altheide, 1996, p. 2). The massive records left by the killer or killers often provide critical clues, and in this investigation, a large and divisive body of evidence was examined, including artifacts generated by the offender prior to the crime (diaries, manifestos, emails, blogs, drawings, photographs, videotapes), and official findings of government review panels, which often include survivor, witness, or family accounts. As so many perpetrators commit suicide as part of their acts, it is essential to use wise judgment to interpret these diverse and problematic records. This is consistent with Altheide and Johnson’s (1994) emphasis on a reflexive ethnography which is open to multiple and conflicted interpretations. The records or documents made by the killer prior to the commission of a massacre generates good evidence of the killer’s state of mind or intention, but it is critical to be aware that such records can be created for self-promotion, or the infamy sought. These records often display a roadmap of the killer’s social isolation, psychological deterioration, or decent into the fantasized goals or responses to the killings. Thus, timing and methods of the mass media reporting style of specific mass killings prior to each killer’s own massacre is important; this essentially created a context for assessment of evidence. While much of the data analyzed here preceded the 2013 publication of Altheide and Schneider’s Qualitative Media Analysis, this research is consistent with their approach.

The Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kept multiple and detailed diaries filled with personal reflections, poems, and maps of the school; violent rants; hit lists of people to kill; and violent drawings. Records left by the Columbine shooters amounted to several hundred pages of evidence. The boys posted similar data in electronic format on blogs/websites, and they created five videotapes shortly before the assault.

Such documentation allowed the researcher to be submerged into the macabre and disturbing world of the mass killer. “A diary is the document of life par excellence, chronicling as it does the immediately contemporaneous flow of public and private events that are significant to the diarist” (Plummer, 2001, p. 48). Each entry of the diary, each picture or video they produce of themselves is a way to proclaim, “I am here, and it is exactly now” (Plummer, 2001, p. 48). What emerged from this amalgam of data was an in-depth understanding, and theoretical construction, of the relationship between the media and mass killers.

Four of the five cases chosen for this study, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris (Columbine High School), Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech), James Holmes (Aurora Movie Theater), and Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook Elementary School), had to meet two important criteria: They each received enormous media coverage both in concentration and duration; and each killer either presented self-made archival evidence describing how they related to, or were inspired by, prior cases within this study and/or they were discussed by one or more of the killers in this research. The June 12, 2016, Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, massacre that left 49 people dead and 53 injured at the hands of 29-year-old Omar Mateen is additionally analyzed and discussed in this article. Due to the freshness of this massacre, it cannot at present meet all of the aforementioned criteria; however, this is the most lethal loan wolf mass shooting in U.S. history and while still in the early stages of mass media reporting, it has received an enormous amount of worldwide and national coverage. The reportage of this case not only demonstrates a continuance of the trends observed in other cases in this study but also an increased progression of these trends.

Stages of Mass Media Reporting

Mass media reporting of mass killing can be identified with seven stages. While there appears to be no formal policy or strategy among mass media sources, they follow an identifiable reporting pattern.

Stage 1—Tragic Shock

When a mass killing occurs, the initial media reports focus on the crime scene of the shootings. The event is treated as a discrete event, and the frame of interpretation is tragedy. The shooting is described as “bizarre,” “unexpected,” “crazy,” “rampage,” “random,” “evil,” and so on. Few details about the shooting are yet known, so police sources and media sources are primary sources of information. The initial questions concern the number of victims and survivors, the methods used by the killer, and whether the killer/s have been apprehended or are still on the loose.

For example, initial media reports concerning the Aurora, Colorado, Theater shooting July 20, 2012, where James Holmes murdered 12 people and injured 58 focused on details such as, while the movie played, armored gunman, gas mask, stepped through side door, gas canisters, smoke, military-style semiautomatic rifle, stopping only to reload, and apprehended in rear parking lot. As More information trickles in the Tragic Shock Stage begins to ramp up with verbiage such as “Deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history,” “People running around screaming,” “Frantic 911 calls,” “Clearly a deranged individual,” “Hair painted red, obviously the enemy of Batman,” “Hollywood fantasy & terrifying reality,” and “Confusion.”

In the gay nightclub Pulse, Orlando massacre early tragic shock media descriptions were “Bloody bodies everywhere,” “People Screaming,” “People crying,” “Played dead for three hours,” “Deadliest mass killing in U.S. history,” and “Scene out of a horror movie.”

Also, in this stage, media coverage concerning the number of people dead and injured constantly changes. Early victim reports in the Aurora theater shooting bounced around from 14 killed, 50 wounded; to at least 10 killed; to at least 12 killed, 38 wounded; to 12 killed, 59 wounded. Eventually when the count finally got sorted out, 12 people were killed and 58 were wounded.

Stage 2—First Witness Reports

As surviving witnesses become known, they are interviewed for details of the crime scene. Reports may be authentic but chaotic, with many contradictory details. Victims present descriptions of blood and death in an emotional manner, usually unmediated by mass media. These reports are presented to stand-alone from larger issues of gun control.

In the movie theater, shooting several witness accounts described the following: “I saw, like, 14-year-old girl on the stairs and she was dead, it was just like the most tragic scene I have ever seen, everybody who was trying to the opposite side boom, shot.” Another witness account, “I saw . . . little kids die, mums die, people who were hurt, people who I didn’t save because I was trying to save myself.” A third witness account,

At first I was so scared—I didn’t know what to do so we just hide under the seats. And you don’t want to move because you not sure if he is going to be right above you and shoot you in the back.

Bree Pasquale, a junior at Columbine, covered in blood, and in a daze, was interviewed by a local reporter from “KUSA-TV Channel 9, Ginger Delgado” (Seigel, 1999). When the camera began to roll, amid tears along with trying to catch her breath, she described the scene in the schools library: “Then [he] put a gun to my head and said—asked if we all wanted to die,” her response was, “I just started screaming and crying and telling them not to shoot me,” she further describes how the killer turned away from her and shot another girl in the head (Seigel, 1999). Bree continued with comments about how “they were shooting anyone of color, wearing a white hat, or playing a sport” (Cullen, 2016, p. 151). She said, “they didn’t care who it was and it was all at close range. Everyone around me got shot” (Cullen, 2016, p. 151). In this interview, Bree described two contradicting accounts about who the killers were shooting/targeting. The first account brought race and socio-economic status into the event and potentially hinted at a motive for the massacre. The second account of random shooting did not meld with the first, but her story was riveting to viewers, it was played over and over again and caused station ratings to soar both locally and nationally (Cullen, 2016; Seigel, 1999).

The Washington Post shared several witness accounts from survivors of the Pulse nightclub in an article titled, “‘It Was Just Complete Chaos’: Orlando Massacre Survivors on the Desperate Struggle to Stay Alive” (Holley & Achenbach, 2016). “Witnesses described dead bodies littering the ground and people trampling over one another in their struggle to stay alive” (Holley & Achenbach, 2016). A CNN WIRE (2016) description from early survivor accounts said, “People dropped to the floor, some let out bloodcurdling screams as they found bodies crumpled on the ground.” Their report continues: “Club goers scattered in different directions to find cover, separating friends in the chaos and panic,” “Patrons inside the club started texting their parents, their loved ones and pleaded for help”: “They’re shooting” CNN WIRE.

Family members of some of the victims held hostage in the bathrooms of the Pulse nightclub said their son or brother, and so on, had texted them. One mothers’ account of her son’s text: “Mommy I love you. In the club they shooting,” her son’s last text, “Call them mommy. Now. I’m tell I’m bathroom. He’s coming. I’m gonna die” (Phillips, 2016). Santos Rodriquez described a text from his brother Jeff: “I been shot at club . . . dying I love you, Dead bodies on top of me” (Boxley & Vinograd, 2016).

Stage 3—Identification of Shooter

First reports identifying the shooter, dead or alive, come from official sources, but little information other than name, address, and so on. First “talking head experts” appear at this stage, commonly identifying the “common profile” of mass killers (White, 20-35 years old, angry, frustrated, loner, low education, isolated, etc.). In this stage, experts introduce language such as “individual pathology,” “sociopath,” “psychosis,” in reference to the killer. Such concepts draw upon the powerful rhetoric of science.

In this stage, comparisons about the shooter’s mental state are made to other cases with similar characteristics, while ignoring other mass killer cases with different characteristics. For example, references might be made about Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter as suffering from Schizophrenia and Asperger; or Virginia Tech’s Seung-Hui Cho as being a paranoid Schizophrenic; or Columbine’s Eric Harris deemed a sociopath.

In Stage 3, the media often gets their information concerning the killer’s identity wrong, particularly in the first few hours after a massacre. The media repeatedly misinformed the public for hours after the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012, when Adam Lanza (20 years old) first shot his mother at home 4 times in her head, and then went to Sandy Hook Elementary School and murdered 20 first-graders, six school staff members, and then killed himself.

One hour after the shooting, the television station KYW/CBS News aired a Special Report that claimed Law Enforcement told them the father of a student went to the school, had a confrontation in the principles office, pulled out a weapon, and began shooting (Jarvis, Miller, & Orr, 2012). Soon after that report hit the airwaves, the story radically changed and most news stations reported that Law Enforcement informed them it was Adam Lanza’s sibling, Ryan Lanza who was the shooter (Shontell, 2012). In their defense for some reason, Ryan’s identification was in Adams pocket (Shontell, 2012). Yet, before absolute confirmation, from state and federal officials, many media outlets FOX News, CBS News, GAWKER, and BUZZFEED linked up to Ryan’s Facebook account and featured his picture and information about him on their broadcasts and/or media websites (Shontell, 2012). It was hours until they realized they had the wrong person.

Once the shooter was identified, CBS News and other news stations reported that Lanza’s mother was a teacher at the Sandy Hook Elementary School and Adam went to her classroom, first killed her and then all of her students (Farhi, 2012). Similar versions of this story were reported by CNN News, Washington Post, New York Times, and FOX News, all identifying Adam’s mother as a teacher at the school (Farhi, 2012). In actuality, she never taught or volunteered at the school.

Stage 4—Reports of Character of Shooter

As official sources are restrained by what they can say about the character of the shooter, mass media sources go to others who may have known the shooter in a variety of settings, stretching from employment situations all the way back to elementary school. All friends, roommates, and associates are interviewed, and surprisingly many say they “saw it coming.” According to a U.S. Secret Service Report (2004), over 75% of school shooter cases have one or more individuals who had foreknowledge of the potentially serious nature of the personal problems, and the possibility of eventual killings. There are many “red flags” in these cases, that is, indications of the serious nature of the individual’s problem(s) and the potential for violence, it is common for many people to later claim that they “saw it coming.”

James Holmes created a 35-page hand written notebook. Due to his pending trial, the notebook was not released to the public until May 27, 2015; thus the news media had to scramble to get important details about his life. When media interviews were conducted with more than a dozen people who were acquainted with or had some interaction with Holmes, it was found that there were signs of severe mental illness months prior to the attack. An August 26, 2012, New York Times article reported that Holmes had actually “hinted to others that he was loosing his footing” (Goode, Kovaleski, Healy, & Frosh, 2012). Holmes was described by other graduate students as an “amiable, intensely shy, had a quick smile, quirky sense of humor and he was intelligent,” and “Yet he floated apart, locked inside a private world they could neither share nor penetrate” (Voorhees, 2012). It was additionally said, “Sometime in the spring he stopped smiling,” and he stopped telling his one liner jokes (Voorhees, 2012). The New York Times article additionally reported, “Holmes was descending into a realm of darkness, in early June, he did poorly on his oral exams and Professors told him that he should find another career” (Goode et al., 2012).

Prosecutors in the Holmes case said that he told a graduate student in March that he wanted to kill people “when his life was over” (Voorhees, 2012). Two months later, Holmes showed another student a Glock semiautomatic pistol, but told the student that it was only “for protection” (Voorhees, 2012). Even Holmes psychiatrist became concerned prior to the shooting and told the university’s threat assessment team that he might be “dangerous” (Voorhees, 2012).

It was additionally reported that Holmes sent a “cryptic and worrisome” text message to a graduate student at the beginning of July, 2012, “Had she heard of ‘dysphoric mania,’ James Eagan Holmes wanted to know?” She messaged back, asking him if “dysphoric mania could be managed with treatment?” Holmes replied, “It was,” but added that, “she should stay away from him because I am bad news.” It was the last she heard from him (Goode et al., 2012). About 2 weeks later, he carried out the massacre.

In the media’s rush for answers, identification about the character of the mass killer/s can often unfairly destroy the reputation of others. For example, because the Columbine shooters wore oversized trench coats while they slaughtered students and teachers throughout the school, media reporters made the assumption that they must have been members of a small group of students that called themselves the “Trench Coat Mafia” (Cullen, 2009, p. 72). The “Trench Coat Mafia” was a subculture that banded together to counteract the threat of psychological and physical bullying that its individual members otherwise would have been exposed to at the hands of more popular cliques in the school. Members of this group were vilified and demonized by the media when in reality they were a peaceful outcast clique that dressed in gothic attire and had nothing to do with the shooters (Frymer, 2009). In actuality, the Columbine shooters were not even welcome in the Trench Coat Mafia group, thus Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were outsiders on the fringes of outcast school cliques.

Dave Cullen (2009) who wrote the book Columbine points out that this rumor actually developed because of the way reporters phrased their initial questions to student eyewitnesses, as well as students that did not witness anything. The media’s suggestion and eventual script of the killers being affiliated with this dark gothic group seemed to make sense and was reinforced with each student interview in spite of the fact that few students even knew the two killers (Cullen, 2009).

Stage 5—Media Branding: The Packaging of a Massacre

In this stage, the ratings war elevates to a new level and the incident is packaged not only in an emotionally charged manner but stylistically formatted as well. This type of packaging with regard to mass killings started with The Columbine shooting. Not withstanding similar formats have been used in other types of tragedies both prior to Columbine “the first World Trade Center bombing,” “Oklahoma City bombing,” “O.J. Simpson car chase,” and since Columbine, 9/11, and the Virginia Tech Massacre, and so on (Frymer, 2009, pp. 1389-1390).

During coverage of the Columbine massacre, Frymer stated,

When Americans came home from work that evening, those who had not already watched the continuous live television coverage were presented with the slick packaging of nightly news reports entertaining their viewers with the latest horrific violence to shock the nation. (Frymer, 2009, p. 1389)

By this stage, all major national news anchors and staff are at the location of the massacre and typically stationed with the building in the background during their broadcast. In addition, there is an “explosion” of 1-hr Special News Report shows covering the incident that cancel out regularly scheduled programming (Frymer, 2009, p. 1389).

The Sandy Hook Massacre took place at 9:35 a.m. on December 14, 2012. By the time of the national evening news, all major news outlets were in position and each packaged with elaborate visuals such as maps of the school, their own logo for the incident, and an opening and fade away theme song. NBC News called the event “Tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary,” and the ABC News tag line was “Tragedy at the Elementary School” (Tucker, 2012).

Within the first day of the Pulse nightclub massacre, the world saw in real time or very close to it Pulse victims in shock, bloody bodies being rushed to hospitals, a swat team advancing, and videos taken by and of people inside the club, many of which did not survive. This information was reported simultaneously on most national television stations, their affiliate websites, and throughout social media. Within less than the time span of 48 hours, USA Today’s website had a 3D animation showing the steps of the killer, victims, and the swat teams rescue of some of the remaining people still inside alive. Most major news station websites had interactive pictures, maps, and diagrams that with just a click on a link delivered more visuals and information—drawing the reader/viewer further into the story. Many of the media visuals provided viewership with the feeling that they were at times observing the massacre through the lens of the victims.

Stage 6—Official Response and Official Report

In most cases of mass killings, the shooter is killed at the scene, so this hastens the law enforcement response. In cases where the shooter is apprehended, then the trial phases may take years. Such were the cases of Jared Loughner (Tucson, Arizona) and James Holmes. But whether or not the offender is killed at the scene, by police or at their own hand, it is common for officials to form a Task Force to investigate the killings and the effectiveness (or lack) of response. There were two reports compiled about Columbine: The Report of Governor Bill Owen’s by the Columbine Review Commission (2001), and The Official Columbine High School Shootings Investigation Records Report by The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (2013); the Governor of Virginia appointed a Review Panel to investigate the Virginia Tech massacre (2007); and three official reports came out of the Sandy Hook Massacre: the Report of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Danbury on the Shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and 36 Yogananda Street, Newtown, Connecticut by The Office of the State’s Attorney Judicial District of Danbury, (2012); the Report of the Office of the Child Advocate (2014); and the Final Report of the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission (2015) that was presented to the Governor of Connecticut.

When an official report or Task Force Report is mandated, it will commonly take 1 to 2 years for the report to be released. The Task Force Report will commonly discuss (a) the vulnerability of the security for the settings involved, (b) the failures of the mental health systems to respond to the problems as they were known at earlier times, (c) the ease of obtaining weapons by current laws, (d) the many early warning signs and why they were not detected or acted upon, and (e) the prior official responses to earlier reports about the offender(s). These official reports occur many months later, when there is a different political context and news cycle, so little is reported by the media or done with respect to these programmatic suggestions.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (2013) Official Columbine High School Shootings Investigation Records Report consisted of 12 boxes collectively measuring five cubic feet. The report contained statements of victims, students, teachers, and others; 991 calls; documents and videotapes created by the killer’s; and the totality of the department’s crime scene investigation and responding procedures.

The Virginia Tech Review Panel Report (2007) was prepared rather quickly, just 6 months after the shooting, and detailed Cho’s life back to his birth in South Korea; how he never wanted to be touched after he had invasive heart testing at age 3; his families move to the United States at age 8 and the assimilation problems he encountered; his diagnoses with selective mutism at age 15 which is an age much too late to have successful intervention; he wrote a paper idolizing the Columbine shooters at age 15; the report chronicled his legal purchases of weapons; that he practiced chaining the doors of Norris Hall; his stalking behavior which caused a brief encounter with law enforcement; and how both school intervention and mental health intervention failed.

The Final Report of the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission (2015) released a 277-page report designed to learn from the Sandy Hook Massacre and provide information to improve safety at schools. To name just a few of the issues discussed in this report: mental health and behavioral health, Law Enforcement and public safety and emergency response, firearm permits and registration, high-capacity firearms, magazine capacity, ammunition, and assault weapons. Even prior to the release of this report, the state of Connecticut had passed legislation expanding its assault weapons ban, including the gun used by the Newtown shooter, and spent US$43 million to improve security in about 1,000 schools (Sandy Hook Advisory Commission, 2015).

Stage 7—Return to Stage 1, and Begin Cycle

This expresses that the United States has many mass killing cases and the media and in part society just keeps recycling the same horrific details, graphic video footage, and pictures of the killers and their victims without any effective changes to the problem. According to Levy (1999), “What we are left with is a vicious cycle where even the examination of a disaster reinforces the violence-obsessed culture that may have helped trigger it” (p. 39). Discussions, about guns, mental health, and bullying in the United States, do take place and are reported briefly by the media after notorious shootings, but not until the gory details describing the shootings has run its profiting course. These discussions fade away rather quickly until the next shooting. The only exception seems to be with the relentless devotion by parents and families of the victims in the Sandy Hook Massacre. Many of them have committed their lives to fight for change. They work tirelessly to keep these issues in the news, but even their voices eventually go onto deaf ears concerning both the media and society.

A few reporters and media stations are starting to break the mold by choosing informed, responsible reporting practices. Beginning with the Aurora movie theater shooting CNN’s Anderson Cooper has at times refused to say the killer’s name, instead opting to give the basic and necessary facts that many viewers do have a hunger for and then puts the focus on paying homage to those that lost their lives. With the Pulse nightclub massacre, the PBS News Hour also has managed to report the appropriate amount of wanted facts but without sensationalizing the event.

In addition, Time Magazines (Scherer, 2016) issue, their first after the Pulse massacre, did not post a single picture of the killer. They listed all 49 victims names on the front cover, posted pictures of the victims on a full page within and they portrayed the killer’s character as “Omar Mateen was not a formidable person, not a foreign fighter and hardly an intellect” (Scherer, 2016).

Theodore Glasser, who teaches media practices and performance at Stanford University, when interviewed the day of the Virginia Tech massacre for SWGATE.com by Mathew Stannard (2007) stated,

Editors don’t play God. Editors play editors, which means making decisions about what is broadcast and disseminated, and in what context. That’s what journalism is all about. This is the kind of thing better described than shown . . . so that it doesn’t become sensationalized, which it is now.

Media’s Influence on Mass Killers—Role Models and Inspiration

For the mass killer who commonly exhibits pathological feelings of “inadequacy, self-doubt, and worthlessness,” their coping skill becomes a subversive construction of reality (Hickey, 2010, p. 108). To compensate, this wounded subject develops a new image of himself (Athens, 1995). To do so, the individual desperately seeks out people with similar experiences (successfully or unsuccessfully) in an attempt to form a temporary, more “unified” self (Athens, 1995, p. 575). Media which sensationalizes mass killers provide them with a comradery-focused fantasy, someone to relate to, justify their own actions, and have an ego boosting fantasized goal to out-do them.

In a study on contagion in mass killings, Towers et al. (2015) found “significant evidence that mass killings involving firearms are [inspired] by similar events in the immediate past,” with the highest risk within 13 days. “During the weeks after the Columbine High School shootings in 1999, at least 3,000 similar threats were made at U.S. schools, according to the National School Safety Center” (Bunch, 2012). “Evidence amassed by the FBI and other threat assessment experts shows that perpetrators and plotters look to past attacks both for inspiration and operational details, in hopes of causing even greater carnage” (Follman, 2015).

Shortly after Columbine, Seung-Hui Cho at the age of 15 wrote a disturbing paper for his English class vividly recounting his thoughts about “suicide and homicide” (Virginia Tech Review Panel Report, 2007, p. 35). He indicated, “that he wanted to repeat Columbine” (Virginia Tech Review Panel Report, 2007, p. 35). Cho deeply identified with the Columbine shooters, Harris and Klebold. He openly expressed admiration for the Columbine Killers’ “martyrdom” and for their ability to “stand up” to those who had mistreated them (Virginia Tech Review Panel Report, 2007, p. 35).

Cho idolized the two killers for over 7 years prior to committing his own massacre. He was “compelled to replicate the Columbine boys, even out do them,” which he did in terms of the number of victims (Murray, 2014, p. 248). He also exhibited the same sort of irrational and emotional imbalance in his 23 self-recorded videotapes, numerous pictures he took of himself, and a 1,800-word manifesto. In most of the photos and videos, Cho portrayed himself as a defiant and powerful figure. He wore combat fatigues and posed with two semiautomatic weapons, magazines of ammunition, hollowed out bullets, and a knife (Virginia Tech Review Panel Report, 2007). In one photo, Cho slings a hammer over his shoulder like he is about to hit someone. He has a vicious scowl on his face and appears deeply and inappropriately enraged.

Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter, was engrossed with over 500 mass killers and compiled a detailed spreadsheet that included all of them (Lupica, 2013). A law enforcement source told the New York Daily News that the log consisted of 500 or more names of mass killers, including the particulars of each case, the number of victims, and the precise weapons used by each murderer (Lupica, 2013). The work sheet measured “7 feet-long and 4 feet-wide,” and took a special printer to produce (Lupica, 2013). After an exhaustive forensic review of Lanza’s computer usage, the FBI’s Behavior Analysis Unit determined that his fascination and devotion to detail with mass killing was unparalleled (Office of the Child Advocate, 2014). According to the report, Lanza began researching mass murderers on his computer in 2011, and his interest augmented into a fanatical obsession with the minutiae and “narratives” of the shooters quickly (Office of the Child Advocate, 2014, p. 99).

Lanza was particularly interested with the Columbine boys, as well as Seung-Hui Cho, James Holmes, and Jared Loughner, but each for different reasons. These killers are enthralled with watching media reports and learning from their predecessors. Three days before the Sandy Hook shooting, Lanza sent an email to a cyber-friend stating,

As far as the Holmies go . . . well, the .gif of him dancing on a llama was cute. I guess that’s all I can say about the whole Holmie thing since I can’t really relate to it. I don’t understand why there weren’t the “he’s just a poor misunderstood puppy who needs help” type flocking around Jared Loughner since that spiel ostensibly applied to him more than James Holmes. And speaking more generally, I don’t really understand why Aurora shooting was considered such a big deal all-around, as if such a thing had never happened before. It’s not like 1984. (Office of the Child Advocate, 2014, p. 105)

Obviously, Lanza was studying and critiquing both mass killers—James Holmes who he referred to as “Holmie,” who killed 12 people and injured 58 others at a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and Jared Loughner (22 years old) responsible for the Tucson, Arizona, massacre where he shot and seriously injured former Representative Gabrielle Gifford in the head, killed six, and wounded 12 others in 2011.

Concerning the llama picture, Holmes was not dancing on a llama, but rather standing next to it and feeding it. Holmes sent the picture along with his curriculum vitae in his application to the prestigious neuroscience doctoral program at the University of Illinois (Allen, 2012). The University’s Admissions Board later when discussing his application jokingly referred to Holmes as “the llama” (Allen, 2012). Lanza also seems to be mocking Holmes by describing him like a caricature “dancing on a llama.” Furthermore, Lanza’s show of arrogance and lack of being impressed with Holmes—who carried off the largest mass shooting in the United States at that time, and created a villain persona of the “Joker” from the Batman movies while shooting people in a movie theater—may have been an attempt to diminish and conceal the fact that he knew Holmes could be a tough act to top.

Lanza appears to be depicting both Loughner and Holmes as weak and inferior killers. This seems at odds with most mass killers who tend to relate favorably to prior killers and idolize them, although they still clearly want to outdo them with their own massacre. Lanza appears to admire the Virginia Tech and Columbine shooters with incidents more than 6 years and 13 years, respectively, prior to Sandy Hook, but admonishes the more recent shooters just 3 days before carrying out his own massacre. Five months prior to the Sandy Hook massacre, Adam Lanza wrote to another cyber-friend,

My interest in mass murdered [sic] has been perfunctory for such a long time. The enthusiasm I had back when Virginia Tech happened feels like it’s been gone for a hundred billion years. I don’t care about anything. I’m just done with it all. (Office of the Child Advocate, 2014, p. 100)

This comment gives some insight into how Lanza fed his fantasy; clearly, he gets a high from more recent and “what he deems” as horrendous mass shootings. The media-saturated details dripping in one after another in real time is what he lives for, and without it even his own fantasy world is less exciting. This seems similar to a serial killers’ thirst and cycle of murder—the high they get while planning and fantasizing prior to the kill, eventually the crescendo of the actual kill, followed by reveling in the luscious fantasy about the last kill—until the high wears off and they must search again for their next adrenaline-charged satisfying victim. For many mass killers, the propelling high comes from the media coverage of each new colossal massacre from which to fantasize.

Conclusion

This article suggests that the entertainment-oriented news coverage of mass shootings has had an unintended consequence: providing a source of information and a script for would-be killers to guide their motivation and organization of behavior for their own violent acts. It is suggested that it is the entire package and progression through each of these stages that forms a continuous build up of information. The killer like much of society, but for very different reasons, may be filled with excitement in anticipation for the next stage of details. Reporting of these events seems to be cycling from one stage to the next at greater speed than during the days of Columbine. The media is well versed in preparing and branding a visually stimulating and emotional show all of which may be viewed instantly on every media device imaginable. Future mass killers can study, enjoy, and gain useful information to assist them in designing their own media sensation from all the stages in this cycle.

“The ‘copycat effect,’ while widely embraced in the popular press, has received only limited attention in scholarly research, and mostly in the area of suicide” (Fox & DeLateur, 2013, p. 132). Researchers who do study the media’s effect on mass murderers “have been hindered by limited availability of primary data: Mass murderers are typically deceased, inaccessible for legal reasons, or unwilling or unable to cooperate with research investigators” (Bowers, Holmes, & Rhom, 2010; Fox & DeLateur, 2013, p. 126; Fox & Levin, 2003).

This research study, however, analyzed archival documents created by the killers themselves. In some aspects, researching from these primary written sources was actually better than an in-person interview. The texts were created in private which allowed the individual that created the documents to be open, vent, or display their true inner thoughts without the possibility of self-censorship. In a sense, the researcher may be onto data that is as true of a representation of an individual as anyone can get. These types of documents for instance (a diary, manifesto, blog, or self-made videotape) appeared to be a cathartic discussion with the subjects’ self. It was often but not always intended for others to view.

However, some of these artifacts were created for shock value or theatrics—especially if the killer exhibits any attention-seeking tendencies and an interest in infamy. In that case, the killer’s records were viewed not only as his private ranting but also as a tool to further media-seeking attention. Some killers clearly were motivated by the thought of leaving a horrific lasting impression on the world. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold purposely left videotapes of themselves discussing who will produce and play them in a movie. Seung-Hui Cho took time in-between his massacre to mail his self-created artifacts to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw. After just murdering several dozen people in the Pulse nightclub and while still killing and holding people hostage during a 3 hr-standoff with police, Omar Mateen called a local news station producer seemingly to inform him about what he was doing to people at the Pulse nightclub. These killers did not just want to brutally massacre people, they clearly wanted to be noticed and they knew the media would accommodate them as they have so many killers before.

The media’s saturation of airtime on these events is not the only motive to compel some to commit mass murder, but it definitely intrigues them, and provides these socially and emotionally inept killers with new imagery from which to focus, study, justify, fantasize, and normalize their actions.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author Biography

Jennifer L. Murray, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology at Indiana State University. Her research focus is on mass and serial murder. She has lectured about her work in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. In addition, she has analyzed, consulted, and been interviewed nationally and internationally on numerous murder cases. She is an expert commentator on several episodes for the Investigation Discovery Channel’s (ID) Television Series Evil Kin. Recently, she taught a course at Scotland’s Stirling University comparing U.S. and British mass killings with regard to prevalence, gun laws, health care, and bullying.

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