Japan: US University Gunman

The Mainichi Daily News lists the most popular international news of the day in its own section and number one on the list for today, Feb. 16th, was "US University Gunman's Deadly Rampage Baffles All that Knew Him." Despite the American origin of this piece of news, the following articles in that category includes news about calls for loyalty in North Korea for their leader's birthday, the closing of websites in Iran, the transfer of a Nazi war criminal from Canada to Italy, and inflation in Zimbabwe, before finally spiraling back to US news with an article on the White House and Congress's actions on the Spy Bill.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/international/news/20080216p2g00m0in009000c.html

The US article says that students and school administrators at the North Illinois University in Dekalb, IL were shocked by the sudden attack of a 27 year old former student, who killed five students when he brought three hand-guns and a pump-action shotgun onto campus and proceded to open-fire on a geology lecture before committing suicide. After claiming that everyone, including the police chief, was shocked by the young man's out-of-character behaviour, the article then begins listing similar cases that have occured in the US recently: the Virginia Tech massacre in April, a Louisiana Tech case where a woman shot to fellow students on Feb. 8th, a high school shooting in Tennessee just on Monday, and the tragic brain-dead diagnosis of a middle school student shot in school in california. The article also includes a little background on the gunman, noting that he had worked as a fulltime correctional officer at a prision, but suddenly didn't show up one day. Furthermore, he had enlisted in the army, but had been discharged only a five months later for an "unspecified reason."

Much like US news outlets, the report of this piece of news invariable revolves around the shock and dismay of the community. Perhaps a reflection of the personalizing nature of the media, everyone noted in the article claims that the gunman did not appear to be the type of person to perpetrate such a horrific event. People lament and ponder, speculate and discuss. Interestingly enough, the last two parts on the gunman's background may be a bias on the part of the media, since it speaks about a acknowledged gunman, to portray him as a ordinary joe, who perhaps had a dark secret that no one knew about. It certainly gives the article more suspense and drama, a sense of could it be your classmate? Or your neighbor?