Kansas City Shooting Underscores Flaws In Media Coverage Of Shootings
A couple of thugs shot up the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade one week ago. The shooters killed a woman and wounded at least 22 attendees, including children.
Kansas City police announced a day after the shooting that they had detained two "juveniles" and charged them with multiple offenses. Police have since arrested Lyndell Mays and Dominic Miller, ages 23 and 18, respectively.
It was previously reported that Mays and Miller were erroneously referenced as the two "juveniles." But a CNN report on Wednesday says Mays and Miller "are separate from the two teenagers who face gun-related and resisting arrest charges."
There's not much information on the two juveniles. The media has not printed their names. Nor have police, citing protections of minors.
However, as KansasCity.com first noted, there have been "fewer details made public in Chiefs rally shooting charges than in past juvenile cases."
Notably, the media was uber-aggressive in plastering Kyle Rittenhouse's name across the web when he was just 17, and the press presumed he was guilty of murder.
As was the industry when it published Nicholas Sandmann's name on news networks while taking out of context a 30-second clip to frame him as a racist white kid in a red MAGA hat.
"I am trying to comprehend why the government was quick to reveal my name after I defended myself, but they still haven’t released the names of the Kansas City shooters," Rittenhouse posted on X Tuesday.
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - FEBRUARY 14: People take cover during a shooting at Union Station during the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII victory parade on February 14, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. Several people were shot and two people were detained after a rally celebrating the Chiefs Super Bowl victory. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Hmm.
"We don’t know who did this shooting, by the way," said Bill Maher on HBO last Friday.
"We have some idea," Coulter interrupted. "If it were a White man shooting, we’d know … that’s how we know it’s not a White man, I can tell you that much. The longer they go without telling you, it’s not a White male."
She's not wrong.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, leading American newspapers are more likely to mention the race of a white shooter than a black shooter at a 7 to 1 ratio.
It's called manipulation of the narrative.
Ultimately, the botched coverage of the Kansas City shooting underscores the flaws in how the press covers mass shootings in America.
Fundamentally, a journalist should always gather the facts first, ask questions second, and pen a conclusion third. Yet corporate journalists so rarely complete that process when covering a shooting.
Rather, they print their conclusion first. They work backward.
News outlets use mass shootings to support already-developed conclusions. They often cite the shootings as supposed evidence of a need to change gun laws or combat white supremacy.
But when facts get in the way of those two narratives, the coverage of the shootings frequently evaporates.
For example, not much was said by the legacy press in 2022 after we learned that New York subway shooter Frank Robert James was motivated by black supremacy.
Or after another black supremacist named Darrell Edward Brooks Jr. drove an SUV through the annual Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing six people and injuring sixty-two others.
That's intentional.
Contrast the coverage of those two racist killers to the white man named Payton S. Gendron who shot up a Buffalo market in 2022, when the ACLU of New York City called for lawmakers to immediately address "white supremacist ideology."
Gun laws fall in a similar vein. Rich Eisen, Mina Kimes, and Jemele Hill are just some of the pundits who called for a swift change in gun laws last week.
NBC NFL writer Peter King attributed the Kansas City shooting to the National Rifle Association's influence over Washington:
"I think there’s only one thing to say in the wake of the mass shooting at the Kansas City victory celebration Wednesday: Do something. Local and national leaders have to stop throwing their hands in the air—and have to stop taking campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association—and they must stop saying, There’s nothing we can do about gun violence. I don’t believe it. No sane person believes it. If we had the national will to do something about the gun issue in America, something would be done. But as children continue to get mowed down in schools across the country, it’s clear that, to millions, possessing powerful weapons is more important than children’s lives. If it comes out that the two juveniles detained so far had access to these killing machines, how possibly can we continue to justify their existence in the hands of Americans? Man, do something."
But King, Kimes, and their ilk failed to realize the gun Miller used to start the Kansas City shooting was not easily purchased from a gun store.
Miller stole the weapon.
What exactly does the NRA have to do with stolen guns? We hope someone in the sports media eventually cares to explain.
So, you have to ask "why?"
Why does the corporate media, who vow to provide Americans a service by way of factual information, so recklessly cover matters as serious as mass shootings?
The answer is obvious: for political advantage.
Gun control and white supremacy are two of the leading talking points for the Democrat Party, which the corporate media overwhelmingly supports.
The press further divides and tears the nation apart by convincing those who listen that white supremacy and compromised gun-fanatic politicians willfully endanger the safety of society – hoping frightened Americans will vote for leaders who purport to sympathize with their fears.
It's a lie.
All of it.
The NRA and evil white people are not responsible for the Kansas City shooting, to the apparent chagrin of the American media. Thus, expect the story to go away shortly. It's no longer of use.
Update: article updated to account for CNN report.