Except that it was supposed to happen around the same time (the same week in April).
Except that it was to happen only a couple of miles from the school.
Except that it involved propane bombs (like the attackers at the high school, although their bombs failed, thankfully).
So the media say this is "not a copycat crime" and it is "not linked to Columbine" yet the story still deals with Columbine.
Hmmm .....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110424/ts_alt_afp/uscrimefireprobecolumbine_20110424211552
This a typical way of the mainstream media to depict attempts similar to this one. Even if they said not to be "copycat crime" the media always makes connections to similar problems, to give more meaning and get more attention..
ReplyDeleteReading the article, they mentioned the Columbine shooting and described similarities about their attempt to use bombs, and somehow relate the attempt because it was near the school and happen around the same time, but yet no relation at all.
The Columbine shooting has nothing to do with this attempt, but once again media always relates and makes connection to similar incidents, nothing new we learned that..
Speaking of the mainstream media lacking context, this time they almost fabricated context. I cannot even believe the story mentions columbine. Actually, it does not simply ‘mention’ columbine, the story links several factors from the deadly columbine shooting with this mans mall bombing attempt. If the two are in no way related, which they are not, then why even mention columbine! It even says that the mall is exactly 3.2 kilometers away from the school. And why do we need to know that? The article calls the relation an “eerie parallel” in that “the Columbine killers had also used pipe bombs, and propane tanks with explosives attached were found at the school's cafeteria after the shooting rampage” yetttttt the two are not linked in anyway? Hmmm so why did the media mention columbine? Did they mention columbine to say that there are a lot of murders in this area of Colorado? That these murders like to use propane tanks? I don’t see the relation and the only logical explanation is to instill fear and thus sell more news. People were fearful of the Columbine shootings because of the vast media coverage that provided little to no context of the rarity of school shootings. Everyone knows about Columbine and therefore stories that mention Columbine draw attention, and thus profit. This story is horrid! It is a perfect example of how the mainstream press fails to provide context to the people (and even sometimes fabricates a context such as relating this case to Columbine when the attempted bombing had NOTHING to do with the school).
ReplyDeleteI figured the media would go the complete opposite route. I thought they would say this was intended to be a copycat crime and get a lot of press for it by finding more similarities between the two events. The more dramatic and sneaky, the better. I consider this the perfect example of a case when the meadia catch wind of something happening and fly out to the scene and, really knowing nothing, present facts as they come about them. This live, breaking news, will sell much better than a well sructured report that viewers see after the incident and all of the information is correctly presented. This is just the way that rumors get started and before you know it, you have a moral panic on your hands.
ReplyDeleteThe mainstream media constantly reports on stories that they believe will grab the viewers attention but never report on the critical details. This creates a misconception for the viewer and they make inferences or opinions based on false or incomplete information. I would think that the media would try to connect the case to the Columbine shooting as it would generate a greater response from the public, however the media is famous for misconstruing information.
ReplyDeleteIt is very strange to me that they did compare this incident with the Columbine incident, but said it wasn't related. It is no coincident that the suspect (thought to be Moore) planted the same type bombs on the week of the anniversary of Columbine (not to mention the location of the mall). The media did leave out a lot of critical details as well. Also, linkage is common among media stories and it is clearly used here.
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