Columbine and the Sniper:

1
Columbine and the Sniper

• Is the Media Scaring Our
• Children to Death?
• Alyssa Ivanson and Brian Gorrell

2
Did you realize

• that the average American child will view over
  200,000 televised acts of violence before he
  reaches the age of 18?
• This is an average of roughly
• 30 acts of violence per day.
• What does this teach our children?

A
3
The Columbine Tragedy

• On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold
  opened fire on fellow students at Columbine High
  School in Littleton, Colorado, killing 13 and
  wounding 25.

B
4
Media Swarms Columbine

• Within hours,
• hundreds of
• news reporters
• were live at the scene,
• broadcasting live footage
• to a shocked nation.
• The aggressive
• coverage would
• continue in the
• upcoming months

5
Denver Stations Columbine Coverage
A Number of times Columbine appeared in news
transcripts B Number of separate newscasts in
which Columbine was mentioned
C
6
Around the Nation

• While the nation mourned the Columbine tragedy,
  the extensive media coverage produced an
  undesired effect Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris
  became underground celebrities, viewed as heroes
• by young social outcasts across the country. A
  string of horrific copycat crimes would soon
  occur.

7
Copycat Criminals

• "Three-thousand copycat events exploded across
  the country following the media's saturation
  coverage of the original Columbine murders,"
  warned Paul Klite, director of the Rocky Mountain
  Media Watch.
• These incidents included murders, attempted
  murders, bomb and violence threats, and illegal
  weapons possessions at schools in every type of
  demographic and psychographic environment.
• The media must be sensitive to the potential
  harm their excessive attention can generate,
  Klite added.

C
8
Copycats Pennsylvania Threats

• During the 50 days following Columbine,
• 354 bomb threats and threats of school
  violence that were attributed to imitation were
  reported in Pennsylvania school districts. The
  average of similar threats made to these same
  districts was between one or two threats per year
  
• pre-Columbine.

E
9
Columbine Revisited?

• In March 2001, a school shooting in Santana,
  California left 2 students dead and 13 wounded.
  Within a week, there were 12 new threats of
  school violence reported across the country
  including

F
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• Williamsport, PA Girl shot during lunch period
• Ft. Wayne, IN Student arrested for having a
  semi-automatic handgun in his locker.
• Covington, WA Student arrested for bringing gun
  to school.
• Twentynine Palms, CA Two students arrested for
  planning to kill classmates. Hit list and rifle
  were found.
• Ontario, CA Three students arrested for
  threatening to put a bomb under a teachers desk.
• Perris, CA Teacher overhears a student planning
  school violence and a four-inch knife is found in
  his backpack.
• Wheatland, CA Boy arrested after threatening to
  bring a gun to school.
• Camden, NJ An honor student is arrested for
  threatening to shoot students in his woodshop
  class.
• Las Vegas, NV Student arrested for possession
  of unregistered weapon on school property
• Outside of California Girl arrested for
  vehemently threatening a school administrator via
  email

F
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A Continuing Trend?

• The fear that Americans felt during the Maryland
  Snipers reign of terror was
• similar to the feelings we experienced
• after the Columbine massacre.
• Could the bombardment of media coverage that
  followed this tragic killing spree
• result in copycat crimes?

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The Maryland Snipers

• In October of 2002, John Allen Williams (right)
  and John Lee Malvo would commit 10 random murders
  in the Washington D.C. area, terrorizing the east
  coast for nearly a month. News crews provided
  up-to-the-minute access to the latest details of
  the investigation, releasing photographs of
  bloody vehicles and the dead bodies of victims in
  parking lots to a troubled country.

D
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The Maryland Snipers

• Malvo would later brag to the police that he
  would habitually watch the news every day to
  revel in the panic he had helped create along
  with noting where the investigation team was
  heading.

D
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More at eleven
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Copycat Criminals

• Muhammad and Malvo. Their names adorn newspapers
  and magazines across the country. Their faces
  are illuminated on millions of television screens
  every night. If you commit a disturbing crime,
  you will become famous, is the message that
  todays media is sending.
• Is it any wonder that copycat crimes occur?
• After all, dark fame is fame nonetheless.

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Steps the Media Should Take

• So how should the media cover violent crimes to
  eliminate copycat potential?
• Leave Fame to the Movies Keep perpetrators from
  becoming the focus of the story, opting instead
  to focus on the victims, the suffering, and the
  facts
• Turn to Page 2 By not running the story as a
  front-page headline, the event is not as
  glorified
• In Other News Dont dwell on the same event for
  an extended period of time, further desensitizing
  the atrocity. Break-in with new story
  developments, but 24-hour coverage is not
  necessary.

G
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Sources

• A http//www.babybag.com/articles/amaviol.htm
• B http//www.tmbsbbs.com/columbine/default2.htm
• C http//www.bigmedia.orgltexts8.html
• D http//story.news.yahoo.com/news?templ/02115/1
  16/2oyz.html
• E http//archpedi.ama-assn.org/issues/v155n9/abs
  /poa00078.htm
• F http//abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/sh
  ooting_copycats010307.html
• G www.1.roanoke.com/columnists/whited/149.html
• All Photos have been borrowed from
  http//www.yahoo.com