Here’s a lengthy but thought-provoking thread posted over the weekend by Lois Beckett, a senior reporter for the Guardian’s U.S. edition. Using the recent Thousand Oaks shooting that left 13 people dead, including the gunman, she suggests that the media could focus as much on solutions to mass shootings as they do the incidents themselves.
What most intrigued us about her thread is the NRA is not assumed to be the enemy. How many cable news outlets drag out anti-NRA activist David Hogg after every mass shooting to get his input? And let’s not even talk about that CNN “town hall” on Parkland that turned into a show trial.
Anyway, here’s Beckett’s suggestion for fellow members of the media:
I am sick of media outlets making a case for hopelessness and stalemate after the latest mass shooting.
There are ways to prevent some of these these shootings. But people don't know about them because WE DON'T COVER THEM.
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
From what we know so far, the Thousand Oaks shooting is a *textbook case* where a gun violence restraining order law could have been used to disarm the shooter. California has had this law since 2016, but many family members/law enforcement still don't know the law exists.
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
Florida used its new gun violence restraining law more often in the first *five months* after the law was signed than California did in the first *two years,* @misstessowen reported yesterday.
Public education and awareness are crucial here. And that's *our job.*
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
In the face of an increasing number of mass shootings, media outlets give intense coverage to the terror and the trauma of these events, but almost no coverage of solutions, including solutions ordinary people can use. Look at this post-Las Vegas contrast: https://t.co/HSVsMvjC1V pic.twitter.com/4OwG40mlwI
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
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It's not just TV that's the problem. Headlines like this one are just not helpful. And in the case of Thousand Oaks, not accurate.
What's depressing is not the lack of solutions, but the fact that options to help exist and people DON'T KNOW ABOUT THEM. https://t.co/5t89aIXXAr
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
In years of talking to gun violence prevention advocates and researchers, what I've heard over and over is that the biggest enemy of this work isn't the NRA.
It's the cynicism and hopelessness of the general public–their belief that nothing can be done, why even bother.
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
None of this is easy. None of the fixes are simple. None work all the time.
But as media outlets, we could choose to focus on the solutions. We could include, in every segment or every story, resources for people who are worried and want to know what options they might have.
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
People just don't snap. There are almost always red flags–small dots that were not connected. There are often quotes like this one, from the Thousand Oaks shooter's former roommate: https://t.co/6XTD1iTe8G pic.twitter.com/T5wPBwI5w0
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
There must be so many Americans who watch the coverage of the latest mass shooting with a funny feeling in the pit of their stomachs, worrying about someone they know, but not certain, nothing's clear, and anyway, what could they actually do? Who might actually help?
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
Our media coverage after mass shootings and other acts of violence could focus on those readers and listeners — offering them what we know about the options they have, however limited and imperfect, and who's working to improve those options.
We could do this.
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
To Gabriella's point here, there are research-driven solutions to offer that are supported by gun rights advocates. One of the largest focuses on training gun owners on suicide prevention. We could offer a menu of solutions https://t.co/4rodlRrCZI
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
There is so much happening right now that feels completely out of our control.
But media outlets *do* have control over how we cover these escalating catastrophes.
We could choose to focus more on solutions. To interview more people who are taking action.
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
I'm very grateful to @tirosenberg and @soljourno, who have been working to advance "solutions" coverage across many areas where it's desperately needed. If you're a journalist and this thread resonates with you–they have resources for you/your newsroom: https://t.co/x4xjkwiFYe
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 10, 2018
Again, agree or disagree, but how refreshing to believe the media might not give a megaphone to anti-NRA activists every time there’s a shooting but instead report on all the red flags that were missed and how not to miss them the next time.
I'm so confused. I don't understand what you're doing here. Every other time someone tells me we have to stop mass shootings, all I'm told is that we need "more better gun control."
But here you are with your "research" and "actual plans." It's very strange.
— justin (@olsonwithanoh) November 10, 2018
Crazy, isn’t it?
The media only runs three stories when it comes to guns. The first story boils down to “the NRA is literally Hitler”. The second boils down to “old, white male gun owners are literally Hitler.” The third boils down to “we need to ban guns just like they did in Australia”.
— Forward Observer (@Mike___Kilo) November 10, 2018
Thank you! There are so many things we could do which would improve things. But all anyone wants to do is fight about gun control.
— stevenjaba (@stevenjaba) November 11, 2018
I…. don't dislike this. And that's coming from a guy with multiple firearms.
— Thrice (@Warren__Peace) November 10, 2018
And I’m sick of hearing journalists go straight to gun control every time a shooting occurs. I’m not even a huge gun rights person. I just want the media to be objective and present all sides of arguments equally. On this topic they NEVER have.
— Nicholas Singh (@nicsingh) November 10, 2018
What are they? I’ve yet to see a solution that would prevent these shootings. Serious Question.
— Dwight Paulson (@paulson_dwight) November 10, 2018
Gun violence restraining orders are advocated by many gun ownership supporters. It allows family/ law enforcement to keep someone from purchasing a gun for a period of time and allows that individual a legal path back to ownership. Thousand Oaks was a textbook case for its use.
— Jeffrey Savage (@AfflictedMed) November 10, 2018
If he wanted a gun he'd find one. The solution is way bigger than this conversation covers. New gun ownership, purchasing abilities, right of passage, licensing, renewals, registration, compliance, destruction and more need to be considered for half a chance to succeed.
— Marc (@mscichitwitt) November 10, 2018
Actually, most of that should be ignored. Solve the causes and incentives for violence, then the tools of violence (and protection) matters little. There are 300 million guns in the US. We are way past restricting them.
— Jeffrey Savage (@AfflictedMed) November 10, 2018
You just nailed it….but the gun violence prevention groups do very little to promote this aspect. Their narrative continues to be focused on the gun, the NRA, and more legislation. Laws are easy to create….but difficult to implement and enforce.
— R Whisk (@RWhisk1) November 10, 2018
The only way to prevent this is to identify the root cause. The root cause of gun violence is not an inanimate object. At its core, this is about real human beings with real problems. Until we as a country take the issue of violence and its causes seriously, this will continue.
— Liberteur (@Liberteur) November 10, 2018
Or you know the police and psychiatrists that evaluated him when he shot into his moms wall could have not cleared him.
— James (@james___2016) November 11, 2018
Number one on this list for me is effective intervention strategies to address cycles of day-to-day shootings on our streets. They aren’t getting the support they need from public and private sources and lack of media coverage of these solutions is a big part of the problem!
— Mike McLively (@mrmclively) November 13, 2018
Like CA, CT has risk-based firearm seizure law, it has prevented shootings and suicides, especially when strongly enforced.https://t.co/ZYkPLk3CvS
— sally kemmler (@skirlyone) November 10, 2018
@AndrewPollackFL has been a tireless advocate for many of these solutions.
— James Mitchem (@jamesmitchem7) November 11, 2018
Unlike David Hogg and his crew, Andrew Pollack, who lost his daughter Meadow Pollack in the Parkland shooting, doesn’t blame the NRA but the people and institutions that let the shooting happen, from the school board and its PROMISE program to Sheriff Scott Israel and his lack of leadership.
But do you ever hear any of Pollack’s #FixIt solutions on cable TV?
Related:
NY Times columnist says Calif. shooting a result of weak gun laws, Dana Loesch & others offer reality checks https://t.co/pY3SsdFE6w
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 8, 2018
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