Dear major televised "news" outlets:
I'm looking at you NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox & CNN. It is safe to assume every American agrees that more than one mass shooting per day is beyond reprehensible. We can all probably even agree that laws about guns should be up for discussion - even if we fall on different sides of how we think they should read. I trust that those conversations can and will happen. But, as crafters of our collective conscience, I look to you to not allow guns to be the only focus of discussion. I expect you as purveyors of news to understand that some degree of culpability lies at your feet. I implore you to beg your leadership to look beyond the profit/loss statement of your network and focus on the the impact you're making on humanity. For when you speak, people listen. When you repeat video, people watch. When you offer up conjecture, people get scared. And, at this point you cease to be news reporters and morph into news creators. This stoking of the fear fire does nothing to help nourish caring for our neighbors and it's time for you to stop.
Consider this - I can see the image of a young man being gunned down without wondering what it looks like for a person to be shot mid stride because I've seen it no less than ten times on various channels. And you claim it a source of pride that you're not showing the 'repeated' shooting that followed. Seriously? You make your business advertising death and terror and pain. These are important stories - I agree. However, what honor do you bring to slain victims of terror when you focus on the perpetrators more than the lives that were prematurely snuffed? You lead every newscast with highly detailed accounts that include some facts and a lot of speculation about how many were killed by a mentally ill attacker and close your broadcast with a 30-second human interest story.
I'm a parent of two children - my husband and I seek to raise them as responsible global citizens but we cannot allow them to watch what you broadcast because your broadcasts do nothing to encourage them to fulfill the dreams we have for them and what the world needs of them. Your broadcasts make them scared to grow up because you spend all of your time focused on tragedy and offer no opportunity for them to see hope and good in the world they're going to be called to lead in a few short years. I believe that many of you are parents too. Do you allow your children to watch the broadcasts you are paid handsomely to create? Do you take pride in consistently lifting up the lowest common denominator of human beings as the norm?
What if...what if you lead with human interest and hope? What if you closed with a thirty second report of tragedy in the world? What if your network chose to turn broadcasting upside down and become a network of humanity versus a network of profit? It seems a bit odd to think that news has become a for-profit business anyway when you think about it. Every morning my husband and I ask one another if there's anything going on in the world. On the rare day that the answer is "nothing major" we exhale with relief and feel a bit lighter because we aren't going to have to shield our children from images that even adults have trouble processing.
Please, please consider what role you play in fostering copycats and perpetuating a culture of fear. Wouldn't it feel great for you to go to bed at night knowing that the focus of your newscast might inspire people to engage in healthy dialogue with people different from them instead? Or, what if your broadcast spent more than 30-45 seconds covering the heroes of the world who step in to help when tragedy strikes? Our children have the opportunity to be in your presence more than our own as you are available 24 hours per day - even when they're at school. You are powerful. You are loud. You can do better. I would love to have you as our partner in growing young people ready to inherit the responsibility of living in a global society. Please join us - we need to be in this together.
Amen!
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