Topic > Impact of Media Coverage on School Shootings - 946

Different types of media entertainment, such as music and video games, reach different audiences and can even influence those who watch them. Pearl Jam's Jeremy, an infamous music video from the 1990s, was inspired by an incident in an American high school in which a student shot himself in front of his class. The song, and its graphic video depiction of the student's attack, won numerous awards and has since been certified gold. This shows that shootings can be depicted in different media forms and can become common in pop culture. Media representations of shootings do not come exclusively from the news and are other forms of media that need to be addressed when looking at how media and violence intersect and its possible influences. In “Media Construction of a School Shooting as a Social Problem” by Meron Wondermaghen (2014), it is argued that diverse media representations are important in bringing problems to public attention and framing them as a public issue that needs attention.