San Bernadino Shooting Research Paper

Media on San Bernadino
The San Bernadino shooting has since changed the national discourse on gun control and Islamic immigration, but as it was occurring, broadcast news organizations were still scrambling to find out what was going on and to keep the viewer engaged. Initial broadcasts occurred when not much was definite, so different organizations were in competition with one another, trying to be the first to bring the viewer the facts, while being careful not to broadcast any false information. Since then, print media, armed with all the facts, has been able to venture from certainty out into the realm of opinion. These politicized pieces delve more deeply into the issues at hand. Readers can consume whichever articles they want. With live broadcasts they were forced to choose. Because of this different broadcasts had to hold their viewers' attention, using means that didn't necessarily add substance or …show more content…
Even once the number of shooters is known, the Fox Broadcast is hesitant to confirm reports of the the shooters’ identities. Since the situation was unfolding while these broadcasts were taking place, they didn’t want to broadcast false information that could later get them in trouble, or cause people to not watch them for their breaking news in the future. They are still willing to release tentative information. This leads to a lot of uncertainty. In the two New York Times articles, the names of the two perpetrators are known and this is but a starting point for the large amount of information that is made available to the reader. These articles don’t have to second guess themselves, since at the time of their writing, all the facts in them had been confirmed. The extra time the articles had before going to print, let them speak with more definiteness than the broadcasts that coincided with the events the