Ethical Issues In Sandy Hook Shooting

The tragic incident that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14th, 2012 was indescribably devastating. The day after the shooting occurred, the Wall Street Journal covered the horrific event and stated “A man armed with two semiautomatic pistols killed 20 children at an elementary school Friday in a rampage that left 27 people dead and one injured in this suburban town before he took his own life, authorities said. A federal law-enforcement official said a .223 Bushmaster rifle was found in the back of a vehicle at the school.” Through the review of stories that were reported when the shooting first occurred, the discovery of new facts, and the aftermath of the shooting we can analyze the ethical boundaries that may have been crossed. We can then determine the journalism ethics that journalists need to follow
The major news networks, including CNN, CBS, FOX, and NBC initially wrongfully accused Ryan Lanza as the shooter. However, Business Insider later reported that Adam Lanza was carrying his brother’s ID on him, and Adam was then named the actual shooter. Media outlets also wrongfully reported that Ryan Lanza was dead. When the news broke about the Sandy Hook shooting, journalists rushed over to Newtown with the persistence of revealing the details of the event. There was also confusing information as to how many people were shot that day, most reports stated that 26 were killed, 20 children and six educators. Although, in actuality 27 people were killed by the gunman, since he shot his mother before going to the school. Yet, only a few reports included the gunman’s mother and said 27 people were killed. The majority of the errors made by the media may have been the result of the competition between news outlets. This is common, especially due to the early 24 hours news coverage, where multiple presumptions and misleading facts can