Cho’s behavior reveals just how desperate he was to become recognized within the public eye. He took time out of his attack to physically send a news station several materials to explain himself. It is assumed that Cho did this with a desire for fame. After NBC posted online some of the materials, the network received public backlash. More than 1,200 comments were posted on NBC’s message board in response to Cho’s mailed materials in less than 12 hours (Johnson, 2007).
Overall, Cho’s actions show recognition of the fact that the media at the time could spread his story. Without Facebook, Twitter, and the other social media platforms, it is certain that news coverage of the shooting would not have reached as many people as quickly. It is interesting to compare the media coverage of Columbine and Virginia Tech because the two incidents received such different reactions due to the eight-year time difference. Clearly, as social media and the digital world developed, news coverage became amplified more easily.
Parkland
The Parkland shooting is the third and last shooting included in this comparative analysis. Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 14 students and three teachers on February 14, 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Cruz purposely set off the fire alarm in order to draw students and staff outside of their classrooms. All within an hour and a half, the shooting took place, the shooter escaped, and was arrested (Chavez, 2018). The media coverage of this incident was unlike any other, creating millions of posts on social media platforms and highlighting powerful student-run protests and campaigns for weeks on end.
