PHOENIX — It’s at this point in the article where you would have already seen the shooter’s image along with his name plastered within the headline and lede, eclipsing the names of victims.
Tom and Caren Teves, whose son Alex was killed in the Aurora theater shooting, created a campaign called No Notoriety to get media outlets to stop focusing so much on mass shooters in the wake of incidents.
Their group cites several studies that show mass shooters are often motivated by press attention and that news outlets will give them what they want - attention and notoriety.
“When Aurora happened, every time we walked past a newspaper, we would see that individual shooter on the front page,” Caren Teves said of her family’s experience in 2012.
Since the establishment of No Notoriety, the Teves said they have seen a change in coverage on the local level, especially in cities and towns that have experienced mass shootings.
9NEWS is now among multiple media outlets that recognizes No Notoriety.
“We noticed that the victims are forefront now where they never used to be,” Caren Teves said.
I flew to Arizona to hear from the Teves as Colorado and families across the country recognize 10 years since a man entered a dark theater with a gun.
Alex Teves shielded his girlfriend from bullets. She survived. Alex was among the 12 people who did not. He was 24 when he was killed.
Shortly after the shooting, Tom Teves took to local and national media airwaves and directly criticized reporters for their coverage of the shooting. From his anger and frustration, No Notoriety was born.
And while No Notoriety has made an impact, the feelings of loss and grief for the family haven’t changed.
“What people don't understand is, this doesn't go away. It doesn't get better. You just get better at carrying it,” Tom Teves said of the loss of his son. “Like those people who say, ‘Well, you're so strong.’ Not really. You don't understand that there's four times a day that I want to double over in pain.”
Acknowledging a change
A few months after the Aurora theater shooting in 2012, I traveled to California to dissect the life of the shooter. In a subsequent broadcast that was a heavily promoted story, I made the shooter the entire focus of my reporting.
I thought what I was doing was the right thing.
During the trial, I repeatedly put the shooter’s image at the top of my digital articles and placed his name in headlines - a lot.
A google search of my reporting reveals a permanent, shameful stain I created.
During my visit with the Teves, Caren asked me what changed my mind about covering mass shooters.
I credit Tom Teves on a day he spoke angrily towards the media during the trial while holding up images of the victims. What he said that day changed my perspective.
“Stop being gratuitous and stop making them into heroes. They're dirtbags who kill real people. These are real people..real families...and there's 70 or 80 people injured and they'll be injured for life when you guys run to the next thing,” he said.
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