There's been a steady increase in the number of mass shootings in the United States since the 1980s. One of the reasons for this-if not the main reason-is the technological evolution of television news broadcasts-from an after-the-fact airing of 16mm film on the eleven o'clock news in the 1960s, to live video as an event is happening in the 1980s.

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Mass shootings in the United States increased in the 1980s: The same decade as live television news broadcasts.

Jack Lindauer

On a summer morning in 1966, Charles Whitman went to the outdoor observation deck atop the clock tower building at the University of Texas in Austin and began shooting at students below. Fourteen people were killed.

The next shooting after the University of Texas by a lone gunman was four years later.

In 1999, two teenagers entered their high school in Columbine, Colorado and killed 12 students and one teacher in what would be the highest body count in a high school shooting to that date.

Just one month later, to the day of the Columbine shooting, a copycat shooting occurred at Heritage High School in Conyers, Georgia. Six students were injured.

And in the decades that followed, at least 26 copycat shootings took place nationwide in which the perpetrators would sometimes invoke the names of the Columbine shooters: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

Television news crews in 1966 drove to the location of a breaking news story in an automobile, documented the event with a 16mm motion picture film camera, drove the exposed film back to the station for processing, then threaded it on a projector for broadcast on the local news. The three television networks at that time, (ABC, CBS and NBC), received a recorded feed from an affiliate station.

By contrast, television news crews in 1999 drove to the location of a breaking news story in a van equipped with electronic equipment, which could send a live picture from a video camera back to the local station. The general public could now see a news story live as it unfolded.

The Columbine shooting became an immediate nationwide news story, in large part due to live round-the-clock coverage of the multiple cable television news networks. Within minutes of the aftermath -- and the suicides of the two killers -- it was seen on television from California to New York.

The technological evolution of television news -- 16mm film to live picture -- and its current capability of transmitting breaking news stories coast-to-coast within minutes, can turn a local news event into a nationwide event.

Imagine if the story of the Columbine shooting had not gone outside the borders of the state of Colorado. In the 20 years since, there would not have been 26 copycat shootings. Broadcasting live television coverage of mass shootings coast-to-coast could unintentionally lead to more mass shootings, which have increased over the last four decades from 21 in the 1980s -- the beginning of live television news -- to 120 in the 2010s -- a 471 percent increase. During that same time period, the population of the United States increased by only 45 percent.

Not only have the number of mass shootings increased over the years, but sometimes the number of victims during a shooting. In October of 2017, a lone gunman went to the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel on the Las Vegas strip with 23 rifles and shot 1,100 rounds outside a window into a crowd of concert goers below killing 58 people and injuring 422 before committing suicide -- which is eerily similar to the clock tower shooting at the University of Texas in Austin.

While live television coverage plays a role in the increase of mass shootings, so does irresponsible television journalism. Some television news departments, which are eager to be the first to get a breaking news story on the air, may not take the time to stop and consider what effect a story of a mass shooting might have on a suicidal individual. Such individuals don't care about their own lives, and certainly not about the lives of others. And, when you think about it, a story about shooting others with a gun is easy to physically duplicate.

Some television news departments also need to be responsible for the number of days they keep their stories on the air -- especially stories of mass shootings. Almost all 24-hour cable television news networks keep their lead stories in front of the general public for an average of six days after an event has happened. This is most likely the main cause for inspiring copycat shootings. At any time during those six days, anyone can turn on a high definition wide screen television and watch a news snippet or special hour-long program of not only the shooting itself, but also a detailed historical background of the killers and what possibly motivated them to commit mass murder.

"Mass murders and attempted mass murders are best understood as angry suicide attempts," Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist and Founder & President of Threat Assessment Group, in Newport Beach, California, said. "They are often successful, and 50 percent are dead by the end of the day, either at their own hands or at hands of police in 'suicide by cop.'"

There needs to be a balance between responsibly reporting a story of a mass shooting, and unnecessarily keeping it in front of a suicidal individual for days.

As long as there is 24-hour television that can broadcast live breaking news stories coast-to-coast within minutes, and television journalists that don't take into account who may be watching, or are determined to keep a story of a mass shooting on the air for days, then mass shootings may never end.

Jack Lindauer has written for the Los Angeles Daily Journal newspaper. He is a Los Angeles based filmmaker.

(Article changed on Mar 27, 2021 at 4:48 PM EDT)

Authors Bio:

Jack Lindauer has written for the Los Angeles Daily Journal newspaper. He is a Los Angeles based filmmaker. He writes on foreign policy issues. He studied Political Science at Harvard University, with a concentration in U.S. Public Policy.