NIU shootings = MAJOR national media coverage | Lane Bryant shootings = no coverage

[jeffrey_X]

The NIU shootings are getting a ton of coverage just like every other school shooting.

My question is, where was the media when FIVE WOMEN WERE GUNNED DOWN AT A SHOPPING MALL JUST OUTSIDE OF CHCICAGO ONLY 10 DAYS AGO????????

Because it was on the south side of Chicago? Because 4 of the 5 woman were minorities? Imagine if the mall shooting had taken place on the north shore of Chicago and all of the woman killed were rich and white? The story would have been everywhere!!! With the Lane Bryant shootings, we haven't heard shit!!!

Fuck this country.

[Blue_Tires]

1. you have a point...i had already forgotten about that...

not that it is easy trying to keep up with all the mass killings these days...

[ProfessorGAC]

12. No. The OP Does Not Have A Point

Not only were the killings at LB covered nationally, but that is also not a poor black neighborhood. So, the coverage (or lack thereof) was not one of social or racial disparity. The LB killings happened in an affluent suburb. The OP's premise is badly flawed.
The Professor

[wndycty]

17. Exactly see my post below

BTW its good to see you professor.

[ProfessorGAC]

18. Good To See You, Too

Long time no see, btw. Very good post below. And, i'm sorry for your mom's loss.

I live about 20 miles from Orland, and i know one of the WillCo cops working on the investigation. I've already told him i think they're on the wrong trail. But, he can't talk about it, so maybe they are on the right trail and he can't say.
GAC

[wndycty]

20. I was not buying the robbery angle

:kick:

[RebelOne]

2. I don't know where you've been, but the Lane Bryant

shootings were covered extensively. I read about it at every major news Web site.

[jeffrey_X]

4. I was in NY when it happened

Of course I saw blurbs of it on the news and of course it made all of the scrollers. Fact is, the news story was short lived compared to what is going to happen with the NIU situation.

But CNN didn't have reporters on the scene, most of the national media didn't show up to the Lane Bryant scene. They fed off of the local Chicago news affiliates.

How many national media reports are at NIU right now?

[Kittycat]

5. The NIU thing goes back to a more recent epidemic they're portraying of

Dangers in school settings. What's setting the kids off to turn against their classmates, teachers, etc. It's a broader issue. Is it being bullied, is it their inability to cope with being away from home, relationship, etc? The Lane Bryant shooting, which was horrific, was on all news outlets - but boiled down to a robbery gone bad.

One isn't any worse than the other, but one is easier to identify than the psychological questions, and ability to recognize signs/prevent something from happening (as in the case of school shootings).

[malaise]

16. Here's a useful report

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2008/02/todays-gun-ramp.html

This afternoon it's this:

A man opened fire with a shotgun and a handgun Thursday afternoon in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, wounding at least 18 people before apparently killing himself, authorities said. (Update, seven people, including the gunman, are now reported dead) say)

Earlier:

Feb. 2 --A gunman kills 5 in a Tinley Park Lane Bryant store robbery.

Feb. 3 - Gunman kills 3 after an argument breaks out in a Largo, Md., restaurant.

Feb. 7 -- Enraged citzens shoots and kills 5 at a city council meeting in Kirkwood, Mo.

Feb. 7 -- A gunman killes a Los Angeles SWAT officer and seriously wounds another after apparently killing 3 male family members in his home.

Feb 8 -- A student with a gun kills 2 fellow students and then herself in the classroom of a Baton Rouge, La. vocational college.

This doesn't include probably about 400 garden-variety homicides (if averages held up) over the last two weeks. And I'm probably missing a few rampages and massacres.
-----
This does not have this week's other school shootings.

[ananda]

3. Umm..

Isn't the real problem something societal and dysfunctional
when these kinds of shootings happen so often?

Isn't the real tragedy that the USA is such a guns and violence
culture that people aren't safe anywhere any more?

Isn't there a serious crisis when the mental health system is
so broken that youngsters can't get the help they need, but
are instead put on drugs that are themseves, the drugs I mean,
toxic and sometimes exacerbatory of violent and suicidal
tendencies?

[stray cat]

6. Saw both on the news multiple times for multiple days

[malaise]

7. We had no coverage of a school shooting in California this week

another one in Georgia and another somewhere else. This was the 4th school shooting.

Very good point about Lane Bryant but the lack of coverage may not be about poor versus rich - remember shootings in malls are really bad for all that matters to M$Ms hacks - business. We are supposed to be consumers not people.

Is anyone tallying up the number of shootings since the first big mall shooting before Christmas.

What's for sure is a lot of people are really angry.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. The Lane Bryant shootings were covered nationally.

[genie_weenie]

9. I believe you are mistaken.

I have seen coverage of the Lane Bryant murders and a large amount of follow-on coverage revealing a detailed description of the shooter with efforts made to apprehend him.

Are you attempting to further your pre-conceived notions of racism by lying? Is this race-baiting?

I think your position is incorrect.

[hiaasenrocks]

10. Yeah, the Lane Bryant shootings got no coverage.

So how did you hear about the incident? Smoke signals?

[ProfessorGAC]

11. I Don't Think You Know The Area

Your post assumes the Lane Bryant shootings were not in an affluent, and mostly white area. They were. Orland Park is a middle to upper middle class south suburb of Chicago. I live about 20 miles from there.

The women killed in the Lane Bryant shooting were NOT poor black women. Sorry, but your premise is badly flawed.
The Professor

[KharmaTrain]

13. Drew Peterson Did It

I have family in Orland that are scared shit from the Lane Bryant shootings. Still no suspect and even less response from the local authorities. That's more the problem than having the corporate media trudge all over a very personal tragedy. This coverage almost always tends to focus on the shooter and the victims are just the "props" for some "statement" of rage.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Hey KT

I live about 20 miles from there, so i'm interested in the outcome too. But, i've got a bad feeling about this.

I have a feeling this was a hit. One person is a target. Hitter goes in where target works. Wipes out everyone. Looks the work of a deranged nutjob or crackhead.

I mean; who goes to Lane Bryant to commit a robbery. Wouldn't 90% of all their transactions be credit card, debit card, or check. They would hardly have any cash to steal.

I've got a feeling the cops are on the wrong trail.
The Professor

[KharmaTrain]

19. Greetings Prof....

I'm out on the other side of the world here...NW...and agree with your gut. It reminds me of the Browns Chicken murders that happened out here and it took nearly a decade for that to be solved. Playing DU Detective, it sure sounds like the killer knew what he was going after, but was it a botched robbery or a passion killing.

Aren't these the same cops investigating the Lane Bryant murders also tied into the on-going Peterson circus? From my friends and family "down south", I don't hear many flattering things about the local police or politicians.

Cheers...

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Only Sort Of

The Peterson thing is Will County, but a different division. They've "divisioned" up the area since Will County went over a half-million people. (About 10 years ago.) So, it's the same deparment, but different staff.

The Peterson thing is a little tricky because of the thin blue line that runs interdepartmentally.

Politicians down here are mostly OK. Most of the crooks have been caught. We've had a few really serious state attorneys here. They've cleaned up quite a lot of the stink. Too many brownshirts as cops though.
GAC

[KharmaTrain]

22. A Little Tricky Indeed...

I have a good friend who was a realtor in Orland...she made quite a nice living but always had some juicy story about one local politician or cop or another. I worked in Joliet at one time for a company owned by Bobby Tezak...so I got quite an "education" in Will County politics. LOL. I wonder if he's been paroled yet.

Thanks for the explanation...maybe one day us Chicago area DUers will figure out how to meet up.

Cheers...

:toast:

[ProfessorGAC]

23. He's Out

But, on probation for about another 4 years. Didn't know you worked in Joliet! I went to high school there! Well whadaya know!
GAC

[KharmaTrain]

24. I Worked At His Radio Station...

That place was a zoo. When I was there he had sponsored the winning Indy 500 race car, but decided not to pay the bills. Every night the fax machine was full of bills and past due notices for hundreds of thousands of dollars. He ended up giving the car to creditors who paid everyone else off. Fortunately I was long gone by the time he was convicted. Needless to say I was amused at all of what happened to him. One day I'll write a chapter in my book about that place. LOL.

So lets see...either Joliet Central or Joliet Catholic...aren't those the only schools that mattered? LOL.

[wndycty]

15. LET ME SPEAK AS SOMEONE WITH A PERSONAL CONNECTION TO A TINLEY PARK VICTIM

You are way out of bounds on this and your facts are wrong.

Only 2 out of the 5 victims in Tinley Park were Black, one of them being Connie Woolfolk who was very close to my mother, my mother spoke at her funeral.

All the victims in Dekalbs were not white. One was Hispanic and its not Chicago's North Shore.

I'm both a college professor and a media consultant, so I might have an insight to the way news is covered. When this happened yesterday I called my mother who lost a dear friend in Tinley Park. I cautioned her that the NIU shooting would receive more coverage for the following reasons:

1) This event happened on Thursday and the natural inclination for the media was to cover it wall to wall because unfortunately they have more news hours to fill. If you look at weekend cable news coverage its not geared towards breaking news. The Tinley Park shootings took place at 11:00 AM on a Saturday morning.

2) The tragedy of a school shooting is going to take on extra significance because of the "safe" perception of a high school or college campus.

3) In the case of the Tinley Park shooting there were 5 victims and unless you knew someone was at the story you had no reason to worry about them being shot. NIU had 22 victims and 7 fatalities and more over literally hundreds of families were on the edge waiting on news.

My mom told me she felt that Connie and the other women got fair treatment in the press and she understood why there might be a difference in coverage. More importantly my mom was more upset that more innocent folks died.