Shooter incident at elementary school in Uvalde, Texas - 19 children and 2 adults dead

Interesting article
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……..“We know that some perpetrators are seeking fame and attention because they have admitted it,” Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama, told The Independent.

“Committing a mass shooting is one of the only ways someone can guarantee himself instant fame, without exceptional skills or abilities.”

Unlike most criminal acts, the random killing of strangers in peace time for no financial gain is learned behaviour, says Prof Lankford, author of the 2013 book The Myth Of Martyrdom.

“Robbery and theft are found in every culture, stealing, aggression, violence, even killing are found in every context. Mass shootings are not.”

And would-be shooters are often driven to kill the largest number of victims possible.

“The more victims you kill, the more fame and attention you get,” he says……

In one study, Prof Lankford compared the clicks and column inches given to seven mass killings between 2013 and 2017 with coverage of more than 600 celebrities over the same time period.

He found that those mass killers received more attention than top movie stars such as Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Jennifer Aniston, and garnered approximately $75m worth of free media coverage.

Prof Lankford also believes the media tends to elevate stories about mass shooters beyond the interest levels that readers have for them.

He’s conducted qualitative studies examining media coverage of shootings compared to how often people are searching for their name on Google or Twitter. Often, he says, news coverage outweighs demand……

Tom and Caren Teves, who lost their 24-year-old son Alex in the movie theatre shooting in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012, established the “No Notoriety” campaign after being dismayed at the level of attention paid to their son’s killer.

The campaign proposes a “challenge” to the media to be responsible “when reporting on individuals who commit or attempt acts of rampage mass violence” and avoid publishing the names or photos of these individuals.

“Almost every single random, mass shooter has something in common,” Mr Teves said during a Ted Talk in 2020.

“They want notoriety, they want to be famous,” he said. “And the media continues to give them exactly what they seek.”……

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...hooting-uvalde-sandy-hook-media-b2122463.html