What's the Scoop?

On average, shootings happen every day in the US. It’s tragic, but with various contributing factors, such as rising unemployment rates, shootings are much more common than in the past. Rarely, however, does it ever occur that a shooting with no direct motive occurs. Even more rare is the dreaded “mass shooting” events, which are even less frequent. When checking the news headlines to find that a mass shooting had occurred with no direct motive, I was surprised to say the least. Upon discovering that the shooting was the worst in the history of the US, I was speechless.

                This weekend, “The Dark Knight Rises” came out in movie theaters across the nation. Individuals packed theaters to view one of the most highly anticipated theaters of all time. When the movie began, a man in full body armor wielding firearms appeared, tossed smoke grenades, and began to open fire onto unsuspecting civilians. The fire continued for several minutes, killing 12 and wounding 58. Eventually apprehended, James Holmes is now being charged for his crimes. Despite this horrible tragedy, I can’t help but feel some pity for the man.

                James Holmes is a man who has been suffering psychologically for some time. It’s pretty obvious that a man who called himself the Joker and killed people isn’t entirely sane. It seems like he snapped last minute and couldn’t control his problems any longer. This event is significant enough to headline news for a while. The man’s motives are still undetermined. He was just apprehended, taken into custody, and is now being questioned. Yet, despite all of this, the man managed to make only two major headlines in the last few days. One was the actual shooting article, describing the event. The other was a poorly written argumentative article describing the fact that Holmes was taking various drugs at the same time. One must ask how there is such a small flow of information to the public about issues like this, while at the same time the press manages to report on every aspect of celebrity life.

                In order to understand how ill-informed this nation actually is on issues, let’s look back at past crimes in the media, namely the case of Casey Anthony. The case involved a woman who was charged with murdering her child, burying her in the woods, and not reporting her daughter missing until several days later. The evidence stacked up against her, but she managed to have all charges dismissed, claiming that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict her. This event received actual coverage in the media for a solid month, at least. There was little deviation from the story, only the release of new events and information supporting or criticizing the story itself. This event rocked the nation to the core. The hook in that story was obvious: it happened to a little girl. The recent shooting, on the other hand, involved over 60 people, many of whom were not even teenagers. As time goes by though, it seems like the amount of information released pertaining directly to this case is continuously dwindling.

                Obviously, the public is aware of the incident’s occurrence, as well as the key components of the story. Some of the victims of the massacre were interviewed by the presses, as well as the families of the less-fortunate victims. Among those include boyfriends who saved their girlfriends’ lives by giving their own, and a young girl (under 18 years old) who happened to be in the line of direct fire. However, it’s frustrating that the story isn’t focusing on the killer as much as it should. His medical records have yet to be revealed, and his scheduled court hearings are even required to be kept secretive. Speculations about schizophrenia have arisen, but have yet to be confirmed. The motive behind this criminal’s actions hasn’t been revealed. It took the longest time for the person’s identity to actually be revealed, and his weapons to be stripped from him, namely those in his booby-trapped apartment.

I’m not attempting to completely bash the media for the job that they’re doing on reporting this story. Overall, the public is aware of what’s occurred, and the job of the media is to report the facts. It just seems like there's more to this story that is falling "under the radar". The public needs to be aware of what’s been going on, and in this case, the victims' opinions, as those very opinions will ultimately decide the fate of the young criminal. While I’m annoyed that there haven’t been any reports on the case in several days, I’m faithful that the media will realize that this story shouldn't be overlooked. When a story is reported as the worst shooting in US history, the media shouldn't just make an assumption, say "he's probably going to get the death penalty", and not update the public until the actual verdict. There should be at least a weekly story, updating the public about this murderer's trek through the justice system.