CT Shooting – Has the Pace of News Become Too Fast?

During the time of unspeakable tragedy, all we want is information. But sometimes it's more helpful to take time gathering information than to try to be the first to break new information.

There are no words strong enough to express the depth of the tragic school shooting that happened today in Connecticut.

In the rush to be the first to get news out though, there have been many links going out on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, linking a Facebook profile of a young man by the name of Ryan Lanza as the suspected shooter. However, this particular "Ryan Lanza" immediately took to social media to say that he is not the person in question.

Considering that most news outlets are reporting that the shooter himself is among the deceased, it's probably a decent conclusion to come to that "they" got the wrong Facebook profile.  

So if you happened to be a young man by the name of Ryan Lanza from Connecticut, you'd probably be wishing right now that a lot of people took more time to research before sending links to your Facebook profile out.

As I type this, some news outlets are reporting right now that the shooter may not even be Ryan Lanza, but in fact a man named Adam Lanza, the relation between the two, if any, is up for debate.

So again, all I'd say about this particular angle is - slow down, don't post things that haven't been confirmed, and let the story develop. Many, many lives have been tragically ruined today, let's not ruin the reputation of someone who may not have even been involved.

And if this does end up being someone involved, this only goes to prove my point - we don't have the whole story yet.