It’s time to rethink media coverage of school shootings

Schoolhouses are becoming fortresses equipped with surveillance cameras and bulletproof desks, with teachers serving double duty as armed guards. Children are being pushed into terrifying drills to prepare for the possibility of a mass shooting that is statistically unlikely.

Some of those trends may be fueled in part by sensational coverage of such violence. And a growing chorus of voices — including those of survivors, victims’ families, and researchers — is urging the news media to rethink the way they approach mass shootings.