Media

The Newtown, Connecticut shooting had me glued to information like most others in the United States. I found myself soaking up as much information as I could through news sources on the web. I avoided all television coverage since we are not discussing it in front of our youngest son who is a kindergartener. He has an extreme love for school and I would never want him to be scared to attend.

What I found from watching the internet coverage is that we may not be a better world for being able to get the news the second it happens. Most of the people who read this blog know I work for a newspaper. When we run a story in the newspaper things must be verified sometimes multiple times before we print them. In the case of the online news and at times the television news that covered this particular story we received misinformation and things that were not even close to true.

The police have to have time to do their jobs. However, with the thirst for knowledge that we now have we don't give them that time before the reporting starts. In doing this we do a disservice to those who read the news. When this started it was reported that the killer was the older brother. Television news sites showed the picture of the older brother from his Facebook page. This brother we later learned was not the killer and hadn't spoken to his brother in two years.

Stories circulated about the killer's mother. Saying she was first a kindergarten teacher and it was her class that had been killed. Later it was reported she was a substitute teacher at the school. Finally it has come out that she is not a teacher at all and never has been. Reporting of this type does not help anyone. It hurts people. Not only the people who are falsely accused of crimes they did not commit or were a part of but also the victims families.

I am guilty as many in wanting to know what is happening right away. However, I would prefer to get "we have no new information at this time" than get false reports that fuel the fire of an investigation like this. The police and investigators have a job to do. Their first job is not to report to the media but to find out what occurred. The media has a job to do as well. It is to report factual information to the public.

Social media has had many positive effects on the world today. Twitter let's us feel like we are right in the middle of the action. However, there are cases where we shouldn't be in the middle of the action. When information is not available perhaps being in the middle of the action does more harm than good. Facebook has also not helped with the spread of rumors. The number of pictures that have been posted and continue to be posted with inaccurate information is alarming. There are people who only get their news from Facebook. Think about that for a few moments. They have read quotes attributed to Morgan Freeman that he never said, they have read accounts of heroism that while the person in the photo is certainly a hero the description is something that another did and lived to tell, and I am pretty certain they are sure the world will end on Friday.

While media certainly is important I think it is time to take a step back as a whole and reevaluate how things are reported in cases such as this. If I were a parent of one of the children or adults I would be beside myself over the loss of my loved one and the half truths would not help me feel any more at ease. For the social media crowd may I suggest a wonderful site called www.snopes.com. They are perfect for checking out things before you post them on Facebook so you don't look like a complete idiot later.