Perspectives: The Media, Mass Shootings and Race

Police reportedly have no evidence that racism motivated the recent mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder, Colo. However, news media on all sides covered the tragedies through a racial lens. Many left- and center-rated outlets framed the Atlanta shootings alongside reports of rising anti-Asian hate crimes after it was revealed that six of the eight victims in Atlanta were Asian women, that the shootings occurred at Asian-owned businesses, and that the alleged shooter is white. Some right-rated media concentrated on race following the Boulder shooting, and the fact that the accused shooter is Middle Eastern and that the 10 people killed were white. Commentary about this media coverage often differed along partisan lines. Some left-rated voices accused mainstream media of unjustly downplaying potential racism the Atlanta shootings, saying outlets failed to adequately serve underrepresented communities with their reporting. Many right-rated voices accused media of rushing to create a racial narrative in the Atlanta shootings; some also criticized left-leaning figures for assuming the Colorado shooter was white. Other voices criticized both left and right-rated media for concentrating too much on racial narratives and not enough on potential solutions to gun violence and crime.