Once again, we return to that mantra from old-school journalism — “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” “why” and “how.”
When covering the murders at Nashville’s Covenant Presbyterian Church private school, journalists already know that the shooter wanted the public to know the answer to the “why” question.
Moments before shooting open the school’s doors, the person previously known as Audrey Hale, who chose the name “Aiden” in social media, sent a haunting and strategic message to a friend. Some timelines suggest that the shooter sent this message while parked in the church’s parking lot.
The contents of the message are highly relevant to news coverage of the shootings. Readers: Have you seen these words quoted in your local, regional and national news sources? Hale wrote:
“This is my last goodbye.
“I love you (heart) See you again in another life Audrey (Aiden)”
Later, Hale added:
“My family doesn’t know what I’m about to do
“One day this will make more sense. I’ve left more than enough evidence behind
“But something bad is about to happen.”
Public officials have made it clear that the shooter left behind a “manifesto,” as well as highly detailed plans for the attack on the school (school leaders have said Hale attended 4th and 5th grade there). The manifesto text is almost certainly what Hale was describing with the words, “One day this will make more sense. I’ve left more than enough evidence behind.”
Under normal circumstances, journalists would be doing everything that they can to answer the “why” question in this case, including calling for the release of Hale’s manifesto text and other materials linked to the attack. But these are not normal circumstances.
One Associated Press report noted, quoting Nashville Police Chief John Drake:
“We have a manifesto, we have some writings that we’re going over that pertain to this date, the actual incident,” he told reporters. “We have a map drawn out of how this was all going to take place.”
He said in an interview with NBC News that investigators believe the shooter had “some resentment for having to go to that school.”
Later versions of that story dropped the “manifesto” reference and substituted this language:
Hale’s motive is unknown, Drake said. In an interview with NBC News on Monday, Drake said investigators don’t know what drove Hale but believe the shooter had “some resentment for having to go to that school.”
Drake, at Tuesday’s news conference, described “several different writings by Hale” that mention other locations and The Covenant School.
Unless I have missed something, the AP coverage — the news material that will appear in most local newspapers — have made zero references to the shooter’s own social-media materials.
Under normal circumstances, these online sources are one of the first places that reporters raised in the Internet era go for insights into this kind of story.
But, again, these are not normal circumstances. It’s safe to say that, in many slite newsrooms, there are significant numbers of journalists, perhaps even members of activist groups, that may or may not oppose the release of the manifesto document and other materials in which Hale addressed the “why” component in this attack. At this point, probing the “why” question — while quoting the shooter’s own words — is clearly a “conservative” media thing.
This morning’s New York Times report — dateline Nashville — included zero references to the Hale “manifesto” or any writings on social media. Instead, our culture’s newspaper of reference framed the “why” question with this language:
As investigators try to piece together a motive for the attack, the authorities praised the actions of the Nashville police officers who rushed into the school, saying they moved swiftly in pursuing and fatally shooting the assailant.
The authorities said on Tuesday that the 28-year-old perpetrator had legally purchased seven firearms recently — including the three used in the shooting — and was being treated by a doctor for an emotional disorder. Chief John Drake of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said that the assailant’s parents had felt that their child “should not own weapons” and believed that their child did not.
Also this:
Even with the uncertainty over what motivated the attack, the magnitude of the loss was clear as relatives, friends and people who knew the victims expressed their grief.
The story — which focused on the grief in the church, its school and the wider community — never mentioned the name of the shooter, thus avoiding prickly questions about gender and pronouns.
This raises another interesting question, during these changing times in the news business: Are journalists interested in the “who” factor in this story?
In a 2019 tweet from the Associated Press Stylebook account, the experts in charge of doctrine for the bible of mainstream news opposed the publication of news stories that “deadname” people who have chosen to proclaim a new gender identify. This tweet was then posted on Facebook:
In general, use the name by which a person currently lives or is widely known. Include a previous name or names only if relevant to story.
While editors for many news organizations did everything possible to avoid the “Aiden” identity on social media, or even the use of pronouns in reference to the shooter, an early New York Times story used this cautious, narrow, language:
There was confusion about the gender identity of the assailant in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Chief Drake said the shooter identified as transgender. Officials used “she” and “her” to refer to the shooter, but, according to a social media post and a LinkedIn profile, the shooter appeared to identify as male in recent months.
Questions: Why, in this case, are many news organizations attempting to avoid the AP style guidelines on the “deadname” issue in this tragedy? Why is it “conservative” to probe the gender issues in this story?
Meanwhile, the conservative Daily Mail has openly pursued information on both the “who” and “why” questions, as seen in the story with this specific headline that stresses the religion elements of this story:
Nashville mass school shooter Audrey Hale was rejected by her Christian parents who 'couldn't accept' she was gay and trans - as cops reveal she also planned to shoot relatives
In its many stories about the shooting, and the shooter, The Nashville Tennessean has gradually moved toward what many progressives would insist are “gender accurate” references to Hale. Note this interesting story with this headline: “Nashville school shooting: What we know about 28-year-old suspect.”
Picky readers will note, when clicking that URL, that a female reference in the original headline is implied in the coding: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2023/03/27/nashville-school-shooting-what-we-know-about-28-year-old-female-shooter/70053679007/
The overture for this report sends several signals:
Seven people were killed in a mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville on Monday, including three children and the shooter.
Police identified the shooter as 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who police killed at the scene. Hale was a former student at The Covenant School, according to police.
Hale was an illustrator and graphic designer who used he/him pronouns, according to a police spokesperson. Police said Hale was transgender and they initially identified him by his birth name and gender.
This Tennessean story edged into territory that has been openly discussed in “conservative” media — the role that the family’s religious beliefs played in this drama.
Read this carefully: What is this implying about the “manifesto” text?
Hale's attack was targeted and the department is reviewing a manifesto and "some writings," planning for an attack on Monday, police Chief John Drake said in a news conference Monday afternoon.
Hale had also planned to attack another location, which Hale realized was too heavily secured and decided against, Drake said.
Keep reading:
In an interview with CBS Mornings on Tuesday, Drake said there were other targets, including a mall, outlined in materials obtained at Hale's residence following Monday's shooting.
"We think (Monday's shooting) was targeted and planned," Drake said.
"… We strongly believe there were going to be other targets, including maybe family members and one of the malls here in Nashville."
Drake said that Hale, who attended Covenant School, had "some history" with the school which may have played a role in the motive for Monday's shooting.
"What detectives have said so far is there is possibly some resentment for having to go to that school. There's a connection with that family."
There is simply too much material to cover, related to the religion and gender elements of this story. But all of the threads appear to aim toward the contents of Hale’s manifesto text and, thus, back to religious conflicts linked to this family and to the school that was targeted.
Once again: Do journalists actually want to pursue the “why” component in this hellish equation?
What was Audrey/Aiden Hale saying with these words?
“One day this will make more sense. I’ve left more than enough evidence behind”
IMAGES: From screen shots of the final messages sent by Audrey/Aiden Hale on social media, which have appeared on many social media platforms and in “conservative” media reports.