John Curley


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Lt. J. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police is surrounded by reporters as he hands out the list of victims of the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Does media fuel deadly thinking?

BY John Curley  on December 18, 2012 @ 10:06 am (Updated: 10:15 am - 12/18/12 )

The 24-hour news cycle is in the business of selling you crappy fleece blankets and grill masters, so you can make more thoroughly toasted sandwiches. They're not really in the business of news. They are in the business of selling you crap. So, they need to have you watch and they need to have you watch continuously.

In between the crap that they are selling you, they just keep digging deeper, and deeper, and deeper into the wound. It destroys, it darkens, and it blackens the soul of the individual that sits in front of it for a long period of time.

I think that the 24-hour news cycle bears some responsibility to the damaged psyches of people who watch these sorts of things and then decide that they are going to go out there and replicate the same kind of thing that happens in places like Newtown and Columbine.

The murder-suicide is a new phenomenon in that the person says to themselves, 'I don't matter in this world. I am one of billions of people and I have two friends on Facebook and everyone else is popular. I don't exist. I am a ghost. But before I put this gun to my head and take my life, I'm going to make sure that people know who I am, that people know my name. So that someone can Google me and find out that I did something, not whether it was great, infamous or famous, but I mattered because I affected someone's life in some way.'

The 24-hour news cycle fuels that kind of thinking. Then you throw in the element of mental illness and the outcome is 'before I kill myself, I'm going to put that gun to as many innocent lives as possible so that my life means something before it ends.'

I hate to say this, and I hope I am wrong, but I believe we will see this happen again before the year is out.

John Curley, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
John Curley is the host of Seattle's Morning News with John Curley on KIRO Radio, heard weekdays from 5 to 9 a.m.
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Comments (15)


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  • murr wrote...
    We all know who the media is, and what money is to them.
    December 18, 2012 10:28 am
    They wont leave the fanning of the flames alone, the leftist bent media needs the money.
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  • mnpat wrote...
    Someone on the insides sees what the media really is
    December 18, 2012 11:58 am
    You sell stuff and in between selling stuff you try to keep people interested to sell us more stuff and the stuff now that fills the in between times of selling stuff has very little value to most. I know that your co-workers still believe that without the media we would be lost....but let them know, they left out the real news many years ago....today it's just B.S. in between the selling stuff.
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  • Bucket Dad wrote...
    We all know Crap is King
    December 18, 2012 12:16 pm
    "We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who comes on at five; She can tell you 'bout the plane crash (or the mass shooting)with a gleam in her eye; It's interesting when people die- Give us dirty laundry" - Don Henley
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  • mnpat wrote...
    Bucket Dad
    December 18, 2012 2:54 pm
    Outstanding...Don Henley bubble headed bleach blonde
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  • RonJ wrote...
    Buket Dad
    December 18, 2012 7:07 pm
    me thoughts exactly.
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  • awbitf wrote...
    Think smaller
    December 18, 2012 1:10 pm
    It's easy to blame the media for their over-coverage of a large tragedy like Newtown or Aurora. What about the nurse that got the prank call from the Australian DJs? The DJs got fired, but what about the media that made that nurse's life a living hell and effectively drove her to kill herself? No, that's right, it's only the DJ's fault.
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  • MartinTravels wrote...
    Well Said
    December 18, 2012 1:31 pm
    John. I think you make a great point, and summed up the real problem in a few paragraphs better than hours of professional analysts blathering on about gun control and video games. Love listing to you; both the funny and the serious. Keep up the good work!
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  • tlmbrt wrote...
    I agree
    December 18, 2012 2:36 pm
    The next crazy, damaged person is out there waiting for his chance to show his anger and become famous. I believe the endless, sometimes inane coverage only serves to encourage the next one...
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  • Ron_Spins wrote...
    Why not?
    December 18, 2012 3:13 pm
    Not use the shooters/killers name ad nauseam , never disclose the perp. No endless bios about the evil persons life...i am sick of hearing about it over and over and over.......
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  • Zagnut wrote...
    A law I'd like to see:
    December 18, 2012 4:16 pm
    It should be illegal for the press to utter the name of the perpetrator in crimes like this one. Analyze the background. Report the details of the crime. Grieve for the victims and let the press spend as much time as they want on all of it. But don't say the name. Ever. And the punishment for anyone gets caught should be harsh. The name should never be heard on TV or radio and should not be found on any website.

    I believe one of the primary motivations in many of these senseless and horrific crimes is the knowledge of the perpetrator that they will become famous. They believe that "The world will know who I am NOW!!!" Take that "benefit" away and I think a significant motive goes away with it.

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  • Zagnut wrote...
    I just took the time to read all the comments.
    December 18, 2012 4:20 pm
    Ron_Spins, I could have saved myself some time by just saying "ditto".

    But I do think it will require a law with harsh penalties to make it happen.

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  • manabouttown wrote...
    I agree somewhat, but there is a flaw in this thinking...
    December 18, 2012 4:50 pm
    John C. Said: """I don't exist. I am a ghost. But before I put this gun to my head and take my life, I'm going to make sure that people know who I am, that people know my name. So that someone can Google me and find out that I did something, not whether it was great, infamous or famous, but I mattered because I affected someone's life in some way.'""" This would be true, IF it was said by a SANE, logical thinking person. This homicidal/suicidal killer was not sane, and was not logical.
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  • Op TK wrote...
    I agree the constant media coverage
    December 18, 2012 6:08 pm
    of horrific events such as Sandy Hook can drive people to a dark state of mind but watching the evening news on any given day can do the same. It's a barrage of government corruption, sex scandals, crooked cops, gang violence, drug addicts, convenience store robberies then here's Slappy with the 5-day forecast. Then during every commercial break there's a pill ad for depression or herpes or limp male syndrome. No wonder we're depressed. That being said, I don't think mass shootings like this are pulled off by "copycats" motivated by Anderson Cooper.
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  • pamelamary wrote...
    I totally agree with you John
    December 18, 2012 11:41 pm
    All of the killings now seem to end up with suicide regarding the killer. Well, I guess that is "cheaper" for our judicial system but scarey. Nine eleven was all about suicide. I agree with you that there will be more. It is the most attention these killers will get, and I am sorry they they need to go so far for the attention they are craving. There is a lot of mental illness in our country today. I think there is some media responsibility, also social network. I feel there is not much hope of turning it around. Sad for us and our children.
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