Media too quick to fill in the gaps in story of school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
By Paul Farhi, Published: December 18
As the horror unfolded in Newtown, Conn., last Friday, dozens of news sources reported a striking element of the story: that Nancy Lanza, mother of shooter Adam Lanza, was a teacher at the school where her son killed 26 people before killing himself.
This account persisted — in news reporting and in conversation — and seemed to fill in a critical element of the tragedy: a motive.
As it turns out, she was not a teacher. Nor does it appear that Nancy Lanza had been a substitute or a teacher’s aide at Sandy Hook Elementary School, as some reported. Other accounts said incorrectly that she had been killed at the school along with her students, rather than at home before her son’s rampage at the school.
While it was a relatively minor error in a string of inaccuracies about the Newtown shootings, the Nancy-Lanza-was-a-teacher story is an important tale in its own right.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/media-too-quick-to-fill-in-the-gaps-in-story-of-school-shooting-in-newtown-conn/2012/12/18/368ae690-4959-11e2-ad54-580638ede391_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines