Theses and Dissertations

Advisor

Barranco, Raymond

Committee Member

King, Sanna

Committee Member

Leap, Braden

Date of Degree

8-13-2024

Original embargo terms

Immediate Worldwide Access

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Sociology

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Sociology

Abstract

School shootings in the United States have garnered significant attention. Since 1999, several high-profile school shootings have taken place across the U.S. in Connecticut, Virginia, Florida, etc. The phenomenon of school shootings and the resultant moral panic is explored by examining media coverage to understand how the media contributes to public responses to these tragic incidents. Although school shootings tend to receive attention, we do not know how this attention can differ across school shootings. This study uses the moral panic framework to assess how national newspaper coverage portrays the Sandy Hook Elementary and Robb Elementary school shootings. I find that the media discourse differs between the two shootings considerably when assessing each attribute of the moral panic framework. This is important as school shootings are reported differently, thus changing public perception. I argue that the level of panic we’ve seen after previous school shootings such as Columbine has decreased.

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