
The Batman Killer – a prescription for murder? - ljf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/aurora_shooting
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smcl
Giving mass murderers like this high-profile articles discussing their
motivations, describing the details (closeups of the guns, the bit about booby
trapping the house), portraying them as some anti-hero is EXACTLY what they
want, and will only serve to nudge more people who are disturbed and have
access to guns to do the same. Media will claim that it's not their
responsibility to decide what's published. But they're essentially saying "if
you kill enough people, we will probably give you a platform and talk about
your message"

~~~
zimpenfish
See also: subsequent terrorist actions after high profile incidents; suicide
sprees after high profile incidents; etc.

Whilst I don't particularly want a shackled press, it would be nice if they
did a little more reflection on what they're publishing.

(See also: "but her emails")

~~~
smcl
Yeh it's hard - law restricting what they publish is absolutely not the way to
go, but a bit more responsibility from editors would be good. It will never
happen though, especially as some organisations are desperate for the extra
eyeballs and the advertising $ they bring. Which makes it weird that the BBC
wrote this ...

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libeclipse
The comments here are pretty much geared towards not giving the attacker
publicity, but even ignoring the fact that having a conversation is better
than blindly letting emotion guide you, the part about anti-depressants was
quite a significant point, and I feel as though it was somewhat shadowed.

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DanBC
This is a nice rebuttal:
[https://inews.co.uk/essentials/culture/television/last-
night...](https://inews.co.uk/essentials/culture/television/last-nights-
panorama-antidepressants-propaganda-not-journalism/amp/)

The BBC's sensationalist reporting will cause harm.

Suicide is the leading cause of death for everyone under 35 and men under the
age of 49 (in the UK) and untreated depression is an obvious significant risk.

This kind of pill shaming will cause people to avoid seeking help and to stop
taking meds, both of which cause considerably more harm than the _single_ case
of murder linked to AD meds.

Indeed, in the UK rates of SSRI prescription have increased dramatically
(probably being overprescribed) while rates of violent crime have been
falling.

The BBC editorial guidelines about harm.have pretty clearly been breached with
this programme and the adverts for it, and a bunch of people in England are
pushing the BBC to issue corrections and retractions.

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maxehmookau
As someone who loves the BBC and 99% of their output, this programme was
utterly awful. There were numerous factual inaccuracies and many groups
including the Royal Society of Psychiatrists came out to condemn the
documentary. This sort of sensationalist nonsense belongs on commercial TV,
not the BBC.

Please submit a complaint to the BBC trust if you're minded to do so:
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/contact_us/making_a_complaint....](http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/contact_us/making_a_complaint.html)

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ourmandave
This from the 1996 Port Arthur mass shooting wikipedia.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_\(Australia\))

 _Bryant 's motivation for the massacre remains a closely guarded
secret,[24][25] known only to his lawyer, who is bound not to reveal
confidences without his client's consent. The lawyer later released a book
outlining that Bryant was motivated largely by the media reports of the then-
recent Dunblane school massacre. From the moment he was captured, he
continually wanted to know how many people he had killed and seemed impressed
by the number._

But also the killer plead guilty to 35 murders and there was apparently no
trial.

 _At least two variants of a conspiracy theory about the massacre have been
promoted.[33] Interviewed in 2006, Tony Rundle, Premier of Tasmania from 1996
to 1998, admitted that, because there was no trial, the evidence made public
was possibly insufficient to support that Bryant had been the gunman: "At the
time, the view was that a trial could do no good for the victims and their
families. Now I think maybe that wasn't the case. If all the evidence was
heard, then maybe it would have provided some closure and stopped the
proliferation of conspiracy theories that sprang up over the years."[34]_

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empath75
There has been a connection with anti depressants and mass killings almost
since columbine.

~~~
DanBC
There hasn't.

There has been a clear link between the US's deranged gun laws and mass murder
and mass shootings.

The dishonesty of the gun lobby is shameful.

~~~
zimpenfish
There's a connection -- but whether it's a valid, proven, causal connection is
another matter.

~~~
DanBC
The BBC documentary programme _Panorama_ is clearly unambiguously saying that
SSRIs cause violence.

They've been widely criticised for that, because it's fucking idiotic.

