Note on the Minnesota Shooting

Media coverage of the latest tragedy hits another new low

From the New York Times, about the Catholic school shooting in Minnesota:

Ms. Westman, 23, lived in a three-story brick building in a complex in Richfield, a suburb just south of the church… As a 17-year-old, she filed a court document to change her first name, to Robin from Robert. It was also signed by her mother. The document noted that Ms. Westman “identified as female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”

On social media, some conservative activists have seized on the shooter’s gender identity to broadly portray transgender people as violent or mentally ill… The right-wing uproar over Ms. Westman’s gender identity echoed the politicized reaction to a 2023 mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, which was carried out by a former student whom the police said was transgender… In a news conference, Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, a Democrat, urged the public to avoid scapegoating transgender people…

The Times in “The Minneapolis suspect knew her target, but the motive is a mystery” did what news organizations are supposed to do, settling a controversy by telling us a mass shooter “identified as female” in a court document. But the paper was so afraid of conclusions its audience might draw that it surrounded its report with layer after layer of messaging. They strained to put “her” in the headline, referred to those who paid attention to the gender issue as “right-wing” and “conservative activists,” and told you Jacob Frey, “a Democrat,” urged against scapegoating. All this, while insisting others “politicized” the shooting. It’s the most glaring example I can remember of a news organization apologizing for its own reporting.

Walter and I will be talking about it on America This Week, but the degree to which news outlets seemingly as a primary coverage goal are scolding readers into not paying attention to true details has been extraordinary. Apologies for the brief note, but having just come up for air after spending time on a different story, I wanted to express shock. Apparently not even the most awful violence derails the narrative model.