Debate: Should the Public Have Access to Footage of Mass Shootings?

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So much of our world today is documented in real time, whether through surveillance footage or a bystander with an iPhone. And that includes mass shootings like the one in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas on November 5th. Video from inside the church reportedly shows the gunman killing 26 people, methodically, pew by pew, in graphic, horrific detail.

But officials have not released this footage to the public. Just as they’ve kept countless hours of video footage of mass shootings under wraps over the years. Of course we often have access to violent images of these types of crimes, thanks to social media.

But should we see the carnage up close? Could it change our thinking, and affect our laws? Or does it re-traumatize, or even desensitize a nation? 

We put these difficult questions to two researchers and thinkers: Sahara Byrne, an associate professor of media communication at Cornell University, and Matthew Grizzard, assistant professor of communication at the University at Buffalo.

This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich