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Anonymous
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In his article Did the media help to pull the trigger? journalist Johann Hari criticised the media response to the shootings and manhunt and suggested that the similar "saturation-level coverage" of the Cumbria shootings, which occurred on 2 June 2010, may have influenced Moat's actions. Citing the research of American forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz, which demonstrated that, in a country the size of the United States, "saturation-level news coverage of mass murder causes, on average, one more mass murder in the next two weeks", Hari noted that the Northumbria shootings were "strikingly punctual" and argued that "flashier front pages and extra revenue in a slow summer [are] more important to us than saving innocent lives."
Dietz's research demonstrated that how the media reported events such as this and the Cumbria shootings "can make someone more likely to charge out of his house to kill, or less." Focusing on the suspect or perpetrator is "adopting the most dangerous tactics possible. We put the killer's face everywhere. We depict him exactly as he wanted, broadcasting his videos and reading out his missives. We make his story famous. We present killing as its logical culmination. We soak him in glamour: look at the endless descriptions of Moat as "having a hulking physique" and being "a notorious hard man". We present the killer as larger than life, rather than the truth: that these people are smaller than life, leading pitiful, hate-filled existences." A more measured response, as suggested by the American Psychological Association, following the Virginia Tech massacre, would require the media not to show the killer's face, "or incessantly repeat his name. Don't repeat any of his manifestos or grievances... Don't glamorise him. Don't offer up a 24/7 drumbeat of excitement. Report the facts soberly, and, where there must be coverage, lead with the victims. Make them human. We should hear the name of Chris Brown, [the victim], more than Raoul Moat's. Tell us about him. In general: play down the coverage. Don't give the killer what he wanted."
The theory that mass media coverage prompted copycat offences and caused gunmen to thrive on their infamy was also supported by Kate Painter, a criminology expert at the University of Cambridge, while the BBC compared and contrasted tactics in modern manhunts with previous manhunts for Percy Toplis, Barry Prudom, Arthur Hutchinson and Malcolm Fairley.
In March 2009, in an episode of Newswipe with Charlie Brooker, comedian, broadcaster and journalist Charlie Brooker had raised the issue of press responsibility, saturation coverage, "rolling news" and sensationalist reporting following the Winnenden school shooting. These views were also put forward by journalists Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in their book Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media, asserting that "the press has moved toward sensationalism, entertainment, and opinion" and away from traditional values of verification, proportion, relevance, depth, and quality of interpretation.[52] They feared these values would be replaced by a "journalism of assertion" which de-emphasises whether a claim is valid and encourages putting a claim into the arena of public discussion as quickly as possible.
The Guardian's media commentator, "Media Monkey", drew attention to how Sky News had used police-issue body armour and Heckler & Koch semiautomatic carbines as studio props, and the Belfast Telegraph observed that, by 8 July the manhunt was continuing to receive "saturation coverage on radio and television", that there were more than 20 Facebook sites dedicated to the manhunt, and that “Raoul Moat” was the No 1 trending topic on Twitter.
Very true.