Ask News Media to Tone Down Coverage of Mass Shootings to Discourage Copycat Effect.

  • by: Susan V
  • recipient: Major networks, including, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, CBS and Telemundo and Newspapers

An FBI investigation has found that a copycat effect may be inspiring some mass shootings. And the way media is covering these tragic events may be encouraging this effect.

According to a report by Mother Jones, the New York Daily News justified publishing graphic images of a recent Virginia gun victim’s last terrifying moments by saying it was done ‘to convey the true scale' of the attack 'at a time when it is so easy for the public to become inured to such senseless violence.'"

However, says MJ, “Such images provide the notoriety mass killers crave and can even be a jolt of inspiration for the next shooter.” FBI special agent Andre Simons told MJ reporter Mark Follman that many mass shooters do it for the media attention. Conducting its own investigation, MJ found “at least 74 plots and attacks across 30 states” that appear to have been inspired by the Columbine massacre.

Based on its research and interviews with experts, MJ compiled several recommendations it feels are worthy of at least consideration by reporters. These include using dispassionate language, minimizing use of the perpetrator’s image and name, keeping the name out of the headlines altogether and avoiding publishing posed photos or videos of the perpetrator.

Sign this petition to ask major news networks to discourage the copycat effect by toning down their coverage of mass shootings.

We, the undersigned, agree that news networks and other media sources should tone down their coverage of mass shooting to discourage the copycat effect.


In addition to looking at evidence from the FBI’s investigation supporting the copycat theory, Mother Jones interviewed a psychologist who helped found a threat assessment program in an Oregon school district who says the media can play a role in preventing school shootings in particular. John Van Dreal told MJ that listening to kids talk about these incidents has convinced him that “When it gets played up so much in the media, it becomes heroic to the kids who are thinking about doing it."


Mother Jones says that already some news stations are changing the way they report mass shootings, with CNN, for example, cutting down on the “constant looping” continued on other news stations and Anderson Cooper “at times” declining to say the perpetrator’s name on the air.


But more could be done to tone down this kind of coverage, and MJ’s suggestions in its report on this issue seem to be a good place to start.


MJ is realistic in noting that “No one can control what explodes across social media platforms.“ However, as Van Dreal adds, “news organizations remain powerful magnifiers of content and could work toward 'an ethical best practice to leave out the imagery and the name as much as possible.’”


The gravity of this matter and the convincing evidence supporting the copycat effect certainly warrant at least the “serious consideration and debate” that Mother Jones is calling for in regard to its recommendations, repeated below:



  • Report on the perpetrator forensically and with dispassionate language. Avoid   terms like "lone wolf" and "school shooter," which may carry cachet with young men aspiring to attack. Instead use "perpetrator," "act of lone terrorism," and "act of mass murder."

  • Minimize use of the perpetrator's name. When it isn't necessary to repeat it, don't. And don't include middle names gratuitously, a common practice for distinguishing criminal suspects from others of the same name, but which can otherwise lend a false sense of their importance.

  • Keep the perpetrator's name out of headlines. Rarely, if ever, will a generic reference to him in a headline be any less practical.

  • Minimize use of images of the perpetrator. This is especially important both in terms of aspiring copycats' desire for fame, and the psychology of vulnerable individuals who identify with mass shooters.

  • Avoid using "pseudocommando" or other posed photos of the perpetrator. This should apply especially after these images are outdated, such as showing the Aurora killer again with his red "Joker" hair during his trial three years later, when he was heavier and wore glasses and a beard.

  • Avoid publishing the perpetrators' videos or manifestos except when clearly necessary or valuable to the reporting. Instead, paraphrase, cite sparingly, and provide analysis. The guiding question here may be: Is this evidence already easily accessible online? If so, is there a genuine reason to reproduce and spread it, other than to generate page views?


We ask all media sources to take these recommendations under serious consideration and work to tone down their coverage of mass shootings.

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