The Newtown Massacre and Bad Press

America teems with gun psychos. Believe this or not, just after the Newtown shooting, a man with 47 guns threatened another school massacre

‘An Indiana man was arrested Saturday after he allegedly threatened to “kill as many people as he could” at an elementary school near his house. Police said they later found 47 guns and ammunition hidden throughout his Cedar Lake home…’
http://www.cbsnews

Police Warn of Prosecutions for Misuse of Social Media
‘Police investigating the Newtown school shooting have issued a stern warning over “misinformation” regarding the case being posted online, stating that the those behind fake profiles and other misleading information will be prosecuted.

‘Connecticut state police spokesman Lieutenant Paul Vance told reporters at a briefing in the town on Sunday: “One of the things that is becoming a concern is misinformation is being posted on social media sites.”‘…’

Why we should discount first reports
Newtown teaches us, once again, to discount early reports
The first reports were that the Newtown shooter was Ryan Lanza and that her mother was a teacher at the school, and that she was killed in a classroom — all false

‘…Of course, thanks to the cushion of time and more reporting, we now know that CNN got many of the fundamentals of the story wrong, and didn’t really start to straighten them out until its 6 p.m. broadcast. CNN wasn’t the only news organization to err ‑ the Associated Press, the New York Times and other outlets performed poorly in the early hours. NBC News found itself doubly damned, working very hard to confirm Ryan Lanza as the suspect, and after all that effort was the among that very last to name him…’
http://blogs.reuters

If the police are looking to prosecute people who misuse the media, here are some leads:

Media Hypes NRA Power While Minimizing Public Support For Gun Violence Prevention Measures
‘Members of the media have been quick to push the myth that the National Rifle Association can remove politicians from office who support new gun violence prevention measures in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The influence wielded by the NRA has been overblown by the media for years, a fact further evidenced by the organization’s poor showing during the 2012 elections.
http://mediamatters

The essay that triggered mommy war on media
‘I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother’
‘Liza Long’s post went viral, but soon one observer, Sarah Kendzior, took the time to read Long’s entire blog and found some not entirely sympathetic statements from the beleaguered mom, like “I quit! Let the state take care of you and your compulsive inability to stop poking people.” Kendzior also noted that Long and her husband had been involved in a messy divorce, which, while not entirely germane to the question of how to handle a mentally ill child, did not exactly put Long in a favorable light…’
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