By ISABELLA VACCARO<\/p>\n
Three people were shot and killed at a Rite Aid distribution center in Maryland yesterday. Unfortunately, as the years tick on and the number of mass shootings multiplies, each tragedy holds less and less weight in the eyes of the American public.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps one of the more unique facts in this story is that the shooter was a woman \u2014 usually it is more common to see male gunmen. CNN.com<\/a>, in its coverage of the act, used a headline that mentioned that a woman had shot the victims, and they wrote a lede that began with \u201cA woman killed three people and wounded three others\u2026\u201d to be as specific as possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It seems fair that a news source, if they have knowledge of who the gunman was, to state it immediately in the story. NPR clearly didn\u2019t think so. Their headline read, \u201cMultiple People Killed And Wounded in Maryland Shooting,\u201d and their lede began with \u201cThree people were killed\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n They do not even identify the shooter until paragraph two, completely disregarding the need here for a classic summary news lede \u2014 with all the most important facts right at the top.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It seems any news source would want to capture readers, no matter how morbid the topic, by providing an angle that might differentiate this shooting from every other story we read.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Nevertheless, CNN and NPR both provide sound facts from law enforcement, which give the reader a clear vision of what exactly happened. However, CNN, in the second paragraph, explicitly asserts that the shooter was a \u201cdisgruntled employee,\u201d which is an important fact to know when pondering the reason for the murder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n NPR, on the other hand, does not come out and say that the woman was an employee, simply stating in the fourth paragraph that the \u201cshooting may have been tied to a work-related grievance.\u201d Unclear over whether this woman had actually worked for the Rite Aid or not, I had to seek other sources after reading NPR.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n CNN\u2019s coverage was overall crafted more strategically and organizationally than NPR\u2019s which made for an informative and easy read, with no loose-ends to tie up in your mind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By ISABELLA VACCARO Three people were shot and killed at a Rite Aid distribution center in Maryland yesterday. Unfortunately, as the years tick on and the number of mass shootings multiplies, each tragedy holds less and less weight in the … Continue reading