Las Vegas Shootings Coverage

Argumentative essay on recent media article.

Las Vegas Shootings Coverage.

Media Coverage of the Las Vegas Shootings

The paper aims to analyze the media coverage of the Las Vegas Shootings of October 1, 2017 and find out which source was best at reporting the incident. While doing so, the paper will also provide arguments in support of coverage and against the other coverage. The essay will analyze the coverage from an ethical, emotional and logical perspective. Further, it will present arguments in favor of the best media coverage by one source while pointing out the limitations of other sources.

The infamous shootings in Las Vegas took place on October 1, 2017 when a gunman opened fire from his hotel room at the crowd in Route 91 Harvest country music festival. The news reports confirmed that around 58 people had lost their lives in the shooting while hundreds others were injured.

Media across the world covered this incident as it happened and continued to report on it in the many days to come. The headlines varied from source to source as some focused on the numbers and others highlighted the chaos and terror at the site. The headline in The New York Times a day after the incident read A Burst of Gunfire, a Pause, Then Carnage in Las Vegas That Would Not Stop (Nytimes.com). The headline of NBC News was more about the figures and numbers of the shootings. It read Las Vegas Shooting: 59 Killed and More Than 500 Hurt Near Mandalay Bay. The Guardian used a statement from a witness of the shooting as its headline. The ABC News, while reporting on the incidence played videos from the site taken by the victims and witnesses of the shooting.

The Guardian did the best job in terms of incorporating visual elements of the story and issuing warning to its readers about the content of the video. It demonstrated the newspaper’s strong ethical principle. Morse notes that covering deaths in civic settings require the journalists to be morally responsible because these coverage are not regulated by military or government censorships. It is hence, the duty of the news media to apply strong ethical principles while filming or showing graphical images or videos of deaths or shootings. While the video in The Guardian did not have much disturbing scenes but the video posted by, The New York Times had elements that could make the viewers uncomfortable and disturbed. From this, it can be said that the NY Times could have avoided using the disturbing video elements keeping in mind the emotions of the readers and viewers.

The NBC News provided a good and thorough detail about the site where the incident took place by incorporating details of the area through satellite maps as can be seen from the below image (Nbcnews.com).

The Guardian’s coverage of the news was the best as it had interviews from the gunman Stephen Paddock’s brother, Eric Paddock who had expressed disbelief over the incident (Theguardian.com). The coverage was best because it presented good background information on the killer by interviewing his brother. Further, The Guardian did not over emphasize the name of the suspect thus maintaining strong ethical grounds. As Carlson mentions, using the suspect or shooter’s name frequently demonstrates bias towards or against a certain race or class, which is against the ethics of journalism. In this regard, the NBC News reporting could be considered the worst since it made frequent mention of the shooter’s name, which was not necessary.

Ethical Perspective

While covering a mass shooting incident, the media must be extremely careful not to include elements that, in any way glorifies the suspect. It is totally against the ethics of reporting and the general morality as well. Many media outlets were seen ‘humanizing’ the shooter by talking about his interest in country music and he not fitting in the profile of mass shooters among other things. The New York Times dedicated an entire article on the suspect talking about his love for gambling and such other stuffs. In ethical terms, the news source did a bad job in covering the story (Nytimes.com). People do not want to empathize with some who is responsible for the death of so many innocent people.

An occurring of an event is based upon a number of means and ways out of which the emotional aspect holds the most humane grounds. The Las Vegas Mass shooting case is one the cases that has been in the news for all the wrong reasons towards the end of 2017 when a gunman mass shot at the open air festival at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. The emotional bond of the people reading the news all over the globe as well as within the premises of the country has been truly depicted in the various news presented, either on print media or digital media. The emotional side of the news article is depicted of the fact that the news has been delivered in a humane way. This is because of the fact that there is less scope for any form of violence can hurt the sentiments of the people and violate the policies of the emotional bonding that the people have with the people.

Considering the emotional facts of the news reporting, the reports that has been stated and are to be considered are the news article from The Guardian, The New York Times and the the NBC News. These three articles have done a considerable job in presenting the articles to the common people however; some of the articles have made it better to the emotional grounds than the other has.

In the case of the Guardian, the news has been reported in a subjective manner with less amount of information and more details to the description part of the event. The Guardian has depicted the event in a more subtle and humane manner with no reference to any violent images, which can be disturbing for the people belonging to all age groups.

The New York Times has presented the news article in a more informative and formal manner with reference to the real time images of blood and even the photo of the companion of the gunman who was not involved in the case. From the emotional point of view, the New York Times has been very objective in their approach which though is very practical and fulfills the role of journalism can be too heavy emotional toll.

The NBC News has included two video clips with real time images of the incidents minus the bloodshed that has been there in the event. The videos presented catered to all sorts of medium like the government reponse as well as the event description and even the reaction of the witnesses which made the news article fulfill all the requirements of essential journalism. The images presented in the news article are both relevant yet not emotionally disturbing.

Emotional Perspective

Considering the three news article submitted, on the basis of emotional ground, The Guardian stands at the first followed by the NBC News and the New York Times at the end for their explicit yet disturbing content which can hamper the emotional balance of the people if seen by an emotionally weak person.

Logical viewpoint of news reporting is that form of news report in which the news article presented in the news report are logically current without any irrelevant content and focusses on the occurring of the event in the concerned span of time. Further, the occurring of the event has been depicted in a matured manner with relevant pictures and objective facts and description.

The Las Vegas mass shooting case is one of the prime crime cases that has occurred at the end of the 2017 in the month of October in which a large number of people died and as many as more than five hundred were injured in the span of time.

The occurrence of the event has been covered by a number of newspapers and digital media channels and has presented the report in their own particular way which has either been a source of emotional toil being too objective or lacking information being too subjective in the case. However, as per the logical form of news reporting, a news report should consist of both the logical as well as the subjective approach to make the piece of news catered to all and have significant relevance in the overall span of time.

Considering the logical aspect of the news reporting, the NBC News has to be te best in terms of logical backing to the news reporting style as the pictures that has been depicted in the piece have both descriptive significance yet are not aesthetically disturbing like the bloodshed as well as the other events. The news article has also featured the map of the place along with a detailed analysis of the events that has been occurring here.

The New York Times has also a good logical backing and sequence of the event. The subjective description of the event has been presented with the required facts and has also provided ample pictures and sources which will evidently prove the affirmatives of the article. The lack of the proper maps and videos to the event make it not so pleasing like the NBC news yet the amount of information as well as facts presented in it definitely makes it better than the Guardian which is again one of the major newspapers of the time. The overall presentation of the New York Times is definitely one of the good ones in terms of logical backing.

The Guardian when considered in terms of the logical backing has a number of flaws into the overall events like the lack of proper information, no inclination towards the objective way of considering events as well as the lack of logical sense in the required terms. The lack of proper statistical information and even the lack of sources make the logical presentation of the paper a bit lacking to the other papers considered above.

Considering the logical backing of the news articles, the NBC news is surely one of the best in the three articles considered followed the article by the New York Times. The third or the last in the sense is the Guardian which is again one of the best articles yet lacking the logical standing.

After analyzing the various news sources, The Guardian clearly covered the news story in the best way. It provided details of the incident, its background information, interviews of important and relevant people and visuals without any bias or hurting people’s sentiments. However, in terms of providing logical and tightly knit story, The New York Times was the best followed by NBC News and lastly, The Guardian. This is because NY Times and NBC had provided all the minute details of the story but The Guardian focused mostly on emotional content.

References

Carlson, Jennifer. "Moral Panic, Moral Breach: Bernhard Goetz, George Zimmerman, and Racialized News Reporting in Contested Cases of Self-Defense." Social Problems 63.1 (2016): 1-20.

Morse, Tal. "Covering the Dead: Death images in Israeli newspapers—ethics and praxis." Journalism Studies 15.1 (2014): 98-113.

Nbcnews.com. "59 People Killed, More Than 500 Hurt In Las Vegas Strip Shooting". NBC News, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/las-vegas-shooting/las-vegas-police-investigating-shooting-mandalay-bay-n806461. Accessed 6 Oct 2018.

Nytimes.com. "A Burst Of Gunfire, A Pause, Then Carnage In Las Vegas That Would Not Stop". Nytimes.Com, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/us/las-vegas-shooting-live-updates.html. Accessed 6 Oct 2018

Nytimes.com. "Stephen Paddock Chased Gambling’S Payouts And Perks". Nytimes.Com, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/us/stephen-paddock-gambling.html. Accessed 6 Oct 2018

Theguardian.com. "Mandalay Bay Attack: At Least 59 Killed In Deadliest US Shooting". The Guardian, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/02/las-vegas-active-shooter-harvest-country-music-festival. Accessed 6 Oct 2018