2008 Woodie Awards
Media accurately covers shooting
Northern Illinois University incident not sensationalized
Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Editorial
This past Thursday, more than 20 people were shot, killing five in another college campus shooting at Northern Illinois University. The media was fair and accurate in its coverage of this event.
When covering such incidents, the media must find the balance between exploiting the situation and people involved and not giving the public enough information. For the shooting at Northern Illinois University, this delicate balance was reached. Important facts were shared in a way that neither disinterested nor left people in the dark.
The news coverage that was shared with the public in newspapers and on television was presented in a fair and unbiased way. Unnecessary data was not presented to make the important facts hard to find.
The public did not have to sift through the facts the media shared.
Furthermore, the information was not presented in the same way over and over again.
Although repetition is important when getting a point across and making sure the viewing public understands, after a while it dulls down the impact of the facts.
The media also did an adequate job in making the focus news coverage about the shooting and aftermath, and not the shooter himself. Often times when covering shootings, too much energy is used in sharing everything about the shooter's background and life story.
Too much media coverage on a shooter's life simply glorifies the shooter by making them notorious or infamous.
This can encourage copycat criminals. In this situation, only the essential information about the shooter was shared.
The media did not sensationalize what happened in their news coverage. Instead of flashy, over-the-top headlines and shaky videos, the information was presented accurately.
In the case of Northern Illinois University, the media did an accurate job presenting and sharing important information.
The next step to improve the media's coverage of such events would only be to cover them a bit more. Yes, over-repetition is a bad thing.
However, the information does need to be available.
When covering such incidents, the media must find the balance between exploiting the situation and people involved and not giving the public enough information. For the shooting at Northern Illinois University, this delicate balance was reached. Important facts were shared in a way that neither disinterested nor left people in the dark.
The news coverage that was shared with the public in newspapers and on television was presented in a fair and unbiased way. Unnecessary data was not presented to make the important facts hard to find.
The public did not have to sift through the facts the media shared.
Furthermore, the information was not presented in the same way over and over again.
Although repetition is important when getting a point across and making sure the viewing public understands, after a while it dulls down the impact of the facts.
The media also did an adequate job in making the focus news coverage about the shooting and aftermath, and not the shooter himself. Often times when covering shootings, too much energy is used in sharing everything about the shooter's background and life story.
Too much media coverage on a shooter's life simply glorifies the shooter by making them notorious or infamous.
This can encourage copycat criminals. In this situation, only the essential information about the shooter was shared.
The media did not sensationalize what happened in their news coverage. Instead of flashy, over-the-top headlines and shaky videos, the information was presented accurately.
In the case of Northern Illinois University, the media did an accurate job presenting and sharing important information.
The next step to improve the media's coverage of such events would only be to cover them a bit more. Yes, over-repetition is a bad thing.
However, the information does need to be available.
Be the first to comment on this story