BKC affiliate Joan Donovan responds to El Paso shooting, use of manifestos as a tactic, and explains how extremists manipulate the media to control public conversation in a release from the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
“Dr. Donovan advocates that the media practice ‘strategic silence’ when reporting on the manifestos. Wide distribution of extremist ideas is one goal of these violent attacks, so republishing the attacker’s manifesto provides them undue influence over important public debates and can potentially inspire others,” the release says. “Dr. Donovan recommends that journalists humanize those who were targeted with pictures and biographies, highlight civil society organizations that work with targeted populations, and tell compelling stories from the perspective of victims.”