So the story in Red Lion School District next door in York County went national yesterday. It’s a terrible thing–people at our school knew the principal killed in the shooting.
It’s interesting to note, however, that the incident at Mechanicsburg Area School District next door in Cumberland County didn’t seem to get up there on the national media scene.
So in one story, a kid shoots and kills a principal. In the other, a kid throws firebombs at the school and tries to throw gasoline on an administrator, but fails to kill anyone. Is part of the problem with our society the fact that the one story gets all the attention because the kid managed to complete his plans? Is it all just about the drama?
That’s sad.
At least Mancuso’s Law of Media Accuracy was disproven with the Mechanicsburg story. My wife works at the school that was “firebombed” and verified that WGAL presented all the details exactly the way things happened (Mancuso’s Law of Media Accuracy:”I’ve been on the scene several times during news events. In none of these situations–not one–has the media reported things accurately.”).