The headline and subhead of an Associated Press story on April 12, describing the San Bernardino murder/suicide of a teacher, student and the shooter was incendiary (“Calif. school shooter accused wife of infidelity: Married in late January, teacher left him in mid-March”).
It reminded me of the initial stories describing former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner’s swim times when he was accused of sexually assaulting an incapacitated woman. Reporters were more concerned with telling the perpetrator’s story than the victim’s. There is just never, ever, a reason to murder a woman and trying to provide context perpetuates and supports those who commit these acts. Why not say something about the victims?
The headlines have the smell of: “if there was a good enough reason, she deserved to die.”
