adam b. ellick
Behind the Media Myth
Published: May 3, 1999 Printer-Friendly FormatThe Ithaca Journal
By Adam B. Ellick
West Paducah, Ky. Springfield, Ore. Jonesboro, Ark.
And now, Littleton, Co.
On the surface they are merely four American cities. But for most U.S. citizens they stand symbolic of a crisis facing our nation's schools. Our perceptions of school safety are tainted by the year's vivid portrayals of shootings.
Contrary to public belief, there has been no increase in school shooting deaths in the last six years, according to the Youth Law Center in Washington, D.C. Less than 1 percent of violent deaths among children occurred in school last year. And a child who spends 13 years in public school has a one in 107,000 chance of a violent death at school, according to a graduate study at the University of Wisconsin.
So why do cunning headlines like, "Could this happen in your district?" force the public to pause and ponder?
We can, with legitimate evidence, blame media. There is little doubt the media have increased coverage of school shootings this year. Between 1982-1992 and 1992-1993 there has been a 50 percent rise in published articles on school violence, according to the School Safety Journal. This increase in articles comes without an increase in violent incidents.
As Mark Twain once said, "There are lies, there are damned lies and then there are statistics."
All numbers aside, sensationalizing school violence has become a media trend. Youth violence provides an opportunity for any media outlet to stimulate a viewer's tear or a reader's fear. Any story on school shootings is indispensable to the media. Such a story offers the many ingredients needed to thrive in the ratings war: innocence, violence, terror and children.
"Youngsters scrambled as some of their classmates fell bleeding and cried as they
waited for emergency workers," wrote an Associated Press article after the Jonesboro shooting.
Such reporting causes the public to form misconceptions regarding school violence. But many school officials also lack a rational approach. They have reacted by imposing drastic measures in hopes of preventing such terror. One school district in Marshall County, Ky. now places a ban on backpacks, while students in Lowell, Mass. are forced to wear identification badges. Schools in Evansville, Ind. have hired officials who frisk students with hand-held metal detectors before entering the building each morning. While such efforts show concern by school administrators, they lack a much-needed critical analysis. Administrative paranoia is as much a crisis as school shootings.
As a solution to misguided fear, the media have the power to present more facts and less trepidation into the minds of a generally ignorant American society. The question remains: will truthful, unsexy reporting sustain viewer interest? It is a difficult question to answer, for not many news outlets seem willing to give it a shot.