Abstract
This chapter examines news coverage of the 2018 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The shootings were unique for several reasons, in particular that several survivors became well known, even controversial activists following the event. News coverage in the 45 days following the shootings in newspapers from communities surrounding Parkland (Broward-Palm Beach New Times, Miami New Times, Sun-Sentinel, Miami Herald) and in national-level newspapers (New York Times, USA Today) was compared in regards to how the shootings’ salience, news coverage attributes, and shooter and victims/survivors were presented to news audiences. Results indicate that news coverage of the Parkland shootings was unlike coverage of previous shootings, both from utilizing the future level of time (rather than present) and the individual level of space (as opposed to the more commonly used societal) and by extending past the 30-day lifespan normally afforded to coverage of mass shootings.
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Holody, K.J. (2020). Attributes in Community and National News Coverage of the Parkland Mass Shootings. In: Matthews, J., Thorsen, E. (eds) Media, Journalism and Disaster Communities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33712-4_12
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