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Editorial: Umpqua College and a call for media restraint

With the multiple murders at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, on Thursday, we as a nation again ask what is it about our society that repeatedly triggers such senseless tragedy?

There are calls for tougher gun control, for more effective treatment of mental illness, for stronger security in public places. As constructive responses, these things and more are worthy of exploration and public debate.

Ultimately, there is no single solution that will eradicate this scourge. Progress will come only from a layered response that incorporates many partial solutions.

Among them is a crucial one that seldom seems to be discussed: Media restraint.

We grow increasingly frustrated, in particular, by the ratings-oriented obsessiveness of many of the cable news operations that seem somehow oblivious to the impact of their coverage and their greater obligations to the public.

Yes, the story needs to be told; the public needs to be informed.

But the story doesn't need to be sensationalized, relentlessly told and retold in lurid detail in a never-ending fashion that plays into the psychotic fantasies of aggrandizement that no doubt play a part in this epidemic.

On Thursday night, we heard one cable reporter describe the specific tactics the Umpqua College assailant had planned to use in an attempt to maximize his death toll.

What possible good comes from publicizing such lesson plans for efficient killing?

Long ago, back in our narrative writing classes in college, we were taught that when it comes to powerful writing, the choice of what you leave out is as important as the choice of what you put in. We were taught that good writing is a matter of nuance and discipline.

The same is true of responsible journalism.

As a matter of philosophy and policy, we as a newspaper approach these stories with care and restraint.

We report them. We have an obligation to inform, and the tragedies raise questions of public policy we have a duty to highlight.

But we believe that one of the motives behind these rage murders is self-aggrandizement, and we refuse to be a part of playing into it.

That can be a complex challenge. Sometimes it's easier said than done. But we provide the assailants with as little attention as possible. We identify them only when necessary. We do not repeatedly publish their photos.

We aim to give the stories themselves understated play. We can inform without screaming. We can record heartache without using it to sell newspapers.

Increasingly, many of our print colleagues have moved in the same direction. It is time that the broadcast media does, as well.

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