There is a fairly popular post from the satire website The Onion is titled “ ‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.” This is in reference to the massive amounts of terrorism the country sees carried out by extremist groups, most commonly right wing terrorists in America.

Anyone can probably name multiple tragedies, such as the Pulse Nightclub shooting, the Boston Marathon bombing, or the Virginia Tech shooting. And this is the issue.

When the media covers every angle and second of an attack and the public watches these broadcasts it causes quite a stir among the general public, which is the exact purpose of the attack. This has also been known to inspire smaller attacks by sympathetic terrorists.

Though it is nice to celebrate the lives of the victims, national broadcasts are not the way to do this. When the attacks are broadcast over national media the entire nation looks to the happening, and they look to the causes rather than the people killed in most places. The excuse that these broadcasts help celebrate the victims lives is false, they only focus on the end of their stories.

Not only do these stories do nothing for the memory of the victims, they help create the environment in which more and more acts of terrorism are fostered. When aspiring mass murderers see that they will be able to receive media attention for their efforts, it makes them more likely to actually carry out their attacks.

Much in the same way famous serial killers inspire copy-cats to carry out similar work. Covering every single angle of every attack, down to the killers personal history, does nothing to help the families of the victims or help rectify the situation. Never has the detailed media coverage helped prevent future attacks or make up the family’s loss.

National media coverage has never helped rectify a killing, it does nothing to prevent future attacks. Nothing good is happening by broadcasting a families sorrow all over the media.