Mass Media's Negative Narratives

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the secondary psycho-sociological trauma like school shootings on students' self-identity and academic success. School shootings' endless highlight reels challenge critical analysis skills for validated information, proper context, and navigating societal ills. Students' social concepts and social engagement contend for proper development with the plethora of unsubstantiated mass media news stories. This chapter establishes a conceptual framework toward teacher counternarrative social capital shaping student resiliency as students deal with mass media's psycho-sociological secondary trauma through the lens of young Black males. These findings have implications for how researchers approach the impact that mass media depictions of school shootings can have on students. This chapter concludes with a discussion of how educators should respond to mass media negative narratives like school shootings to support social-identity development and proper perspectives of societal ills.