Why you should think twice before watching, sharing videos of school shootings

In the aftermath of the fatal school shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University on Aug. 18, where two junior high school students died, clips and images lifted from the child in conflict with the law's livestream of the incident circulated across social media. 

Soon after came calls from government agencies to hold back on sharing the content to avoid causing panic and setting off the "copycat effect."

In its statement, the Presidential Communications Office urged state media to be cautious in their reporting of incidents of such nature. 

"In incidents involving minors, all state media must exercise the highest level of caution in how such tragedies are reported," the statement read, asking private media organizations to practice the same level of journalistic responsibility. 

According to PCO, irresponsible reports "may compromise the dignity, safety, and privacy of minors, the bereaved families, and the ongoing response and investigation efforts, and to avoid details that may encourage copycat acts."

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center issued a similar call to the public. 

In its statement, CICC wrote it is coordinating with Meta for the immediate take-down of all footage of the AdZU incident across the platform. The continuous spread of the clip may cause panic or may unduly influence individuals, the organization wrote.

"Muli, nanawagan kami sa netizens na huwag na i-repost ang mga video kaugnay ng insidente upang hindi na rin mabigyan ng karagdagang audience o atensyon ang ganitong uri ng karahasan," the statement read. 

Calling for the same, the Department of Education issued a statement where it urged the public "to refrain from spreading unverified information and sharing sensitive photos, videos, or details about the incident, especially since minors are involved."

The reasons not to share or even view images and videos of school shootings go deeper than the ones mentioned, however. 

Why school shooting clips should not be shared

"Imagine losing someone you love and then opening your phone and seeing the most painful moments of that person's death being reposted, commented on, and circulated over and over again. For the family, the tragedy doesn't simply become a news story. It is their actual life and their actual loss," psychologist and traumatologist Faith Frances B. Miranda told PhilSTAR L!fe. 

Such is the effect of indiscriminately sharing and watching school shooting videos online on the victims' survivors. 

Beyond the lack of empathy, however, the continuous consumption of the content may set the "copycat effect" in motion. It refers to "the possibility that exposure to highly publicized acts of violence may influence vulnerable individuals to imitate similar behaviors," Miranda said. 

Watching violent content does not automatically make a person violent, she said. But it may negatively influence adolescents whose "judgement, impulse control, and identity are still developing," making them more susceptible to external suggestions. 

Having these violent videos constantly on one's social media feed can also make the images familiar and normal to the user. Per Miranda, this repeated exposure "can increase distress and keep the disturbing details of the incident constantly present in people's minds."

Journalism professor and media ethics expert Danilo Arao told PhilSTAR L!fe also sounded the alarm on this effect. 

According to him, when media and content creators uninhibitedly share violent real-life incidents, it tends to "trivialize the issue" and does not provide the proper context. 

All the public sees in the shared social media content is a minor handling guns as familiarly as they do in role-playing video games, said Arao.

"How does that help in the shaping of public opinion? What news values can be derived?" he asked. 

"Totoo naman, we strive for factual accuracy and contextual accuracy," Arao told L!fe. "You can describe what happened in the footage, but to present it as the major findings of a particular journalistic output, I find that very, very irresponsible."

"Constant exposure tends to desensitize people [to the idea] that these things are normal and that these things are somewhat okay, basta huwag ka lang magpapahuli...We don't want to trivialize that," Arao said. 

Media's responsibility: Provide context

According to Arao, media's main purpose, especially in these violent and tragic circumstances, is not just to report the facts. 

"The news value should be clear: This should not happen again. And that's where factual accuracy and contextual accuracy should come into play," he said. Sharing the same gory details and disturbing footage, said Arao, is not just "irrelevant" but also extremely "dangerous" as it desensitizes viewers. 

Instead, Arao recommended that media and content creators look into angles that show the bigger picture. 

In school shooting incidents, suggested Arao, reports may focus on possible factors like lack of guidance counseling, the huge student-to-teacher ratio in classrooms, and the insufficient attention on critical thinking in values education.

"In other words, we look at the context instead of just focusing on trivial matters," Arao said.

"For example, hindi porke't mahilig sa Roblox 'yung perpetrator, 'yun na 'yung dahilan...For the more learned individuals, you would find out that there's no correlation between online games and the behavior of the one playing that particular violent game," he continued. 

Looking outside media, Arao also placed responsibility on the government and the details it discloses to the public regarding its investigation. 

While he acknowledged the government's duty to provide details on the investigation, Arao said it's not obligated to share everything. 

"Halimbawa, 'yung sinasabi na na-groom na itong batang 'to. You have to be very sure na na-groom talaga siya. At kung sakaling na-groom siya, you're not duty-bound to spill the tea," Arao said, adding that keeping certain things undisclosed can avoid negatively influencing copycats. 

What we can do 

Miranda reminded parents that they have an important role in avoiding future shooting incidents. 

"They need to guide their children in navigating social media, talk to them about disturbing content, and help them process what they see instead of leaving them to make sense of it on their own," she said. 

She also suggested, "Before watching or reposting, we should ask ourselves, 'Would I want millions of people circulating this if this were my family?'"

"Accuracy and public awareness should not come at the expense of the dignity of the people directly affected," Miranda said.