Media Diary: Suspect in Washington School Shooting Uncovered

Media Diary: The Suspect in Washington School Shooting – Reason for Shooting Uncovered
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Media Diary: The Suspect in Washington School Shooting – Reason for Shooting Uncovered
Last week on Wednesday, a 15-year old teenager was accused of shooting and wounding three of his classmates at Freeman High School, which is located 25 miles southwest of Spokane. On the 15th September, the NBC News reported that the cause for the shooting was linked to Caleb Sharpe, the accused teenager’s intention to teach everyone an important lesson regarding what happens to bullies (Blankstein & Siemaszko, 2017). In his last words, Sam Straham, the victim killed by Sharp made a statement acknowledging Sharpe’s intention to shoot up the school some day. Sharp responded by telling the slain victim that their behaviors of bullying would one day get them into trouble. Following the incident, Sharpe was detained in a juvenile center at Spokane to wait for court appearance. Authorities disclosed that they wanted to charge Sharpe as a full adult who had premeditated intentions to murder. Investigations uncovered that the accused teenager was always troubled and had been in and out of school counseling for suicidal ideations.
The media story caught my interest in what investigative journalism can do to uncover important facts surrounding an occurrence. Rather than plainly accusing the accused of murder, the story reported that there were former events that led to the shooting. Techniques in news collection in journalism lead to a clearer understanding of events and the reasons why they happen. This technique has always resulted in deciphering hitherto poorly understood facts by the general public (Vieregge, 2017). For instance, Sharpe warns of the bullying that happens at schools and from the shooting, school administrations need to implement stern regulations to arrest the bullying culture. It is a culture that has been researched by scholars and policy makers are yet to provide lasting solutions to the problem. Investigative journalism continues to bring light to social problems and tries to inform the public on the state of the issues.
References:
Blankstein, A., & Siemaszko, C. (2017). Washing school shooting sus...