Red Lake vs. Columbine.
Some people have suggested that the fact that the media didn't make that big a deal out of Red Lake illustrated its racism. [For those of you who weren't paying attention: a few months ago, this small reservation town in Minnesota was the site of some grisly images. This Neo-Nazi Native American 16-yr-old gunned down ten people at school, including himself.] And that may be partially true. But I think there were two factors that played more of a role in the muted coverage: 1) nothing new had happened, and 2) the media recognized it had over-reacted with Columbine.
Red Lake's problem is that it was old hat. The first few bodies that came back from Iraq got quite a bit of media attention; the bodies that came back last week didn't. Was it because the first bodies were racially superior to the second bodies? Not likely. In 1991, when the AIDS frenzy really got going in the United States, there were about 60,000 people diagnosed and 37,000 killed. Last year, after the focus of the AIDS epidemic has shifted to the third world (and therefore out of mind), there were roughly 43,000 new cases diagnosed and over 18,000 deaths. Was the 2004 lack of media attention because of racism? Oh wait. Maybe it was. Bad example.
Anyway. If Jeff Weise had opened fire on his classmates in 1998, there would have been quite a bit more coverage.
Red Lake's other problem is that the media's reaction to Columbine was an aberration. The story simply did not warrant the around-the-clock coverage it received. Teenagers shoot each other pretty often; about the only reason this should have had national coverage was there wasn't an identifiable, adult reason for Harris and Klebold's actions (as opposed to if they had shot up the school in a drug debt enforcement gone awry). So Red Lake's coverage looks paltry in part because it is being compared to an absurd circus.
Red Lake's problem is that it was old hat. The first few bodies that came back from Iraq got quite a bit of media attention; the bodies that came back last week didn't. Was it because the first bodies were racially superior to the second bodies? Not likely. In 1991, when the AIDS frenzy really got going in the United States, there were about 60,000 people diagnosed and 37,000 killed. Last year, after the focus of the AIDS epidemic has shifted to the third world (and therefore out of mind), there were roughly 43,000 new cases diagnosed and over 18,000 deaths. Was the 2004 lack of media attention because of racism? Oh wait. Maybe it was. Bad example.
Anyway. If Jeff Weise had opened fire on his classmates in 1998, there would have been quite a bit more coverage.
Red Lake's other problem is that the media's reaction to Columbine was an aberration. The story simply did not warrant the around-the-clock coverage it received. Teenagers shoot each other pretty often; about the only reason this should have had national coverage was there wasn't an identifiable, adult reason for Harris and Klebold's actions (as opposed to if they had shot up the school in a drug debt enforcement gone awry). So Red Lake's coverage looks paltry in part because it is being compared to an absurd circus.
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