Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting: From Small Town Story To National News

 The media is a very complex and expansive system. There is not one single news source or one single perspective or bias. No story is ever reported on just once and then forgotten about. Stories go through multiple stages and are written about through countless lenses and viewpoints.  A news story can be written about thousands of times in thousands of different ways. We can see the development of stories from their uninformed infancy to their stage as an archive when we can look back on them with informed hindsight. At each stage the story changes and becomes something new. Every story goes through this process and countless aspects of every story are explored.

            Just a few short months ago on Friday December 14^th, 2012 a devastating tragedy occurred in the small town of Newtown, Connecticut.  A gunman, Adam Lanza, entered Sandy Hook Elementary School armed with semiautomatic pistols and rifles and killed twenty-six innocent people.  With this high victim count, the Sandy Hook shooting was reported as one of the deadliest school shootings in the United States. The nation was shaken by the shooting and the tragedy spurred a period of national outreach and condolences and was the topic of conversation for quite a while. I vividly remember the day it occurred and receiving the information through various news sources – word of mouth, Facebook, television news programs, and the newspapers. Almost every type of news outlet was scrambling to report on the tragic event and provide insight into what had happened that day.

            One of the earliest articles that I found was by CBS News. The article, Connecticut School Shooting: Police investigating reports of a shooting at elementary school, written just around an hour after Lanza had entered the school, reported very general, uniformed information regarding a school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The article is extremely brief and explains that the Connecticut State Police were assisting the local police at an elementary school shooting. The only information they had about victims was that there were several injuries and unconfirmed reports. At this point the media believed that there were two shooters involved (Crimesider Staff). This underdeveloped local story just proves how inaccurate stories can be in early stages of development. Reporters are simply trying to get out any information they can as quickly as possible. The early articles are all about the scarce information that can be gathered at such an early stage.

            One of the first news sources to publish a complete story of the school shooting was the New York Times article, Nation Reels After Gunman Massacres 20 Children at School in Connecticut, by James Barron. As with any story reported within twenty-four hours, the purpose of the Times story was to let the public know what happened and to give details about the event. But this article was far more informed than the previous local article. It provided the name and age of the shooter, twenty-year old Adam Lanza, and gave the details of the weaponry he used in the shooting. A Sandy Hook Elementary School parent tells reporters “There is going to be a black cloud over this area forever. It will never go away” (New York Times). The article aimed to create emotion, sympathy, and understanding among the readers.

            As time progressed more and more information came out concerning the victims, their families, and the shooter himself.  The day after the shooting the Huffington Post released the names of those who lost their lives inside Sandy Hook Elementary School the day before. The article by David Lohr detailed the first name, last name, age, and gender of the “12 girls, eight boys and six adult women” whose lives were taken by Adam Lanza. (Lohr). Another local newspaper, The Hartford Courant published an article the day after entitled, Who Are They? Stories About The Victims Of Friday's Shootings. In this article the author spends fifteen pages providing much more detailed, intimate, and personal information about the victims. The personalities, likes, dislikes, and memories of the children and adults were described in vivid detail. The purpose of the article was to personalize the tragedy and make it less distant from our lives. But the victims were not the only ones receiving news coverage. Details also emerged about the infamous shooter, Adam Lanza. Many news sources published stories on Lanza and what led him to commit such a horrible crime. One of these stories was Adam Lanza’s Path to the Sandy Hook Tragedy by PBS Frontline that detailed the course of Lanza’s life leading up to the day of December 14, 2012. The article described Lanza as a quiet and withdrawn child who seemed to have a pretty normal life and “somewhere along the way… made the fateful decision that ended in the second deadliest school shooting in American history.” The article continues to detail the struggles Lanza had with social interaction throughout his life and constantly switched schools.

            But as with every tragedy the initial shock and sadness eventually fades away and the event is discussed in a new light. Rather than being seen as just a tragedy, the shooting was being seen as the catalyst for a variety of political debates.  The Sandy Hook shooting sparked discussion and debate over gun control, mental health issues, and security of schools. Shifting away from discussing the events of the day, various forms of social media were putting the shooting into a different context. The most recent school shooting has forced the government to take action to address these pressing social issues. A CNN article entitled Gun violence plans: What's in the works describes what the White House has in store in terms of gun laws. The President planned to strengthen existing gun laws, limit magazines to ten rounds, and tighten up the background checks on all gun buyers. The ultimate end goal is to "dry up the supply of these weapons over time." Says California Senator Diane Feinstein (CNN Politcial Unit). Regarding gun control, there are a wide variety of opinions ranging from those who want stricter gun laws to those that cling to their second amendment rights. On one end of the spectrum many people agree with a statement made by President Obama in his Newtown vigil speech, “Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?” (Huffington Post). These people feel that tragedies like Newtown strongly reinforce the fact that gun laws are not strict enough. Supporters of stricter gun control believe that our nation’s love of Second Amendment Rights is not at all worth the damage it is causing. Those on the other end of the spectrum agree with the statement made by President of the National Rifle Association, Wayne Lapierre, when he said “When it comes to the most beloved, innocent and vulnerable members of the American family – our children – we as a society leave them utterly defenseless, and the monsters and predators of this world know it and exploit it.” (New York Times). Supporters of this viewpoint claim that mental health, video games, and school security are the true issues to focus on. From this perspective it is not guns that are causing the problem but rather how people choose to use them. Neither of these speeches and none of the debates about these social issues would have even existed had it not been for the shooting in Newtown.   

            However, in Newtown there is not much of a divide on the issue of gun control. In a USA Today article by USA today travel editor and reporter Gary Stoller, it seemed that “people on all sides of the political divide” expressed support for President Obama’s plan to ban assault weapons and ensure tighter background checks on gun buyers. It comes as no surprise that in a town so tragically affected by this monstrous weapon, most of the residents would fully support its ban. Local Newtown school bus driver and Democrat Marsha Moskowitz explains that instead of making this a democratic or republican issue people should realize that "It's a human issue. It's about humanity." Alan Brown a Sandy Hook resident, gun owner, and life-long republican agrees that Obama’s proposals make a “whole lot of sense.” Brown supports gun rights yet never felt comfortable with assault weapons and after the shootings stated that he is “now strongly opposed to these types of weapons.” The common sentiment in Newtown seems to be that these assault weapons are extremely dangerous and absolutely unnecessary and if there had been a ban on these types of weapons then many of the victims lives would have been spared (Stoller).

            The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting has gone through quite a development in the news and blog world: from its beginnings as a freshly reported elementary school shooting to its explosion into an endless supply of articles and opinion blogs. The shooting transformed itself into a countless number of stories ranging from gun control to the life of Adam Lanza. Almost three months have passed and people continue to write about the shooting and its memory continues to live in political debates and tribute articles. First Selectman of Newtown Pat Llodra stated, “Many have said that this awful happening in Sandy Hook has changed the world — changed the way we think and act and made us more committed than ever to stem this kind of violence.” Sandy Hook has changed the way we think and given us a new perspective on violence. A perspective that is continually present throughout the news world and will continue to be present for a long time. We may no longer be talking about the events of that day but the Newtown story continues to evolve in the news sphere.