Televised Media Is Loosing to Digital Media

Digital Journalism has completely taken over print media. However, with digital journalism it is becoming increasingly more difficult to decipher, what is true and what is fake. With political powers such as the president of the United States of America, constantly chalking things up as “fake news," it is nearly impossible for an individual to decipher what is real and what is fake. However, as difficult as it may seem to construe, digital media, televised media has been reporting news in a similar fashion for years.

Even conspiracy theorists are jumping into the ring to give their deluded opinions. Gun control is currently one of the hottest political debates in America. Restricting the public's access to guns would significantly lessen the gun violence in America. But will doing so infringe on the second amendment?

Mass shootings and school shootings continue to take place and each one seems to spark the conversation again. The media, such as news and other televised stations, arguably turn the information into propaganda. Televised media display the shootings for several days afterward. The stations cover shooters for days after they are convicted of their crimes. They also spend large amounts of time covering casualties and victims of the shootings that take place. Televised media covers the shootings in such extensive amounts, that it begins to change the public's perspective of the shooter. In a way, the media is displaying the person who slaughtered innocent people as a type of hero. Other people, who are in a similar headspace as the shooter, see the coverage of the shooter and the victims and see it as a way to get their 15 minutes of fame.

Televised media covers and idolizes mass shootings so much that conspiracy theorists have created a theory that the school shootings and mass shootings are fake. Many of these theories originate on the 4chan baord “politically incorrect.” Less than an hour after the Florida school shooting there were multiple claims on Twitter that there were “crisis actors,” who were paid actors.

Jennifer Johnston, Ph.D. and Andrew Joy, BS’s theory states that if the media, (televised, digital, print etc.) were to stop covering these events in such excess they would cease to exist. If the shooters were not idolized and repeatedly shown on television. Other people in the same headspace would not see the shooter being televised and would not decide to act. This reaction in the media as well as stronger gun control, would decrease mass shootings catastrophically. If buying a gun license were to be as strict as it is in Japan, (a four month process, including a mental health check and an exam), mass shootings would decrease astronomically. (Japan’s last mass shooting was in December 2007, a man with a shotgun killed two people at a fitness club and injured six others before committing suicide in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture). Although we don’t expect America to be as strict as Japan, even adopting restrictions like Canada's, gun violence would drop significantly. Americans are 70 percent more likely to die at the end of a gun, than Canadians are to die in a car accident.

Digital Journalism is more difficult to navigate than televised news. But, digital journalism provides both sides of the political spectrum. Most news stations are centered on one side of the political spectrum. Televised media is so desperate to release a story first, that they repeatedly release misinformation. There is a race to get out the next big story first and televised media is repeatedly losing.

Sources:

Murphy, Paul P. How the Florida school shooting conspiracies sprouted and spread. Atlanta, CNN, 2018.

Paperny, Anna M. Gun violence by the numbers: How America, Canada and the World compare. Toronto, Global News, 2015.

Yoshida, Reiji. What are the chances of a mass shooting in Japan? Tokyo, The Japan Times, 2016.

Johnston, Jennifer, and Andrew Joy. Mass Shootings and the Media Contagion Effect. New Mexico, Western New Mexico University, 2016.