Media contributes to school shootings

In Friday's editorial, the Daily Herald asks a rhetorical question about the cause of school shootings.

Some believe it is the availability of guns. Many feel it is the acceptability of violence.

Certainly a contributor is the notoriety that such killers receive by the media. The media will extensively investigate and report on everything about the perpetrator.

Others, with similar problems, recognize such deranged acts as a way of gaining their "day in the limelight."

Thus the cycle continues. Daily newspapers, local and national television broadcasts, magazines, etc., are filled with stories about murders and violence. Negative aspects of stories in general provide sensationalism, theoretically selling more papers and eliciting more viewers.

Perhaps the media ought to consider their role in perpetuating senseless school shootings?

Richard Benson

Mount Prospect