Public Misinformation

A recent article published by USA Today states that ten years after the horrific Columbine shootings, where fifteen people were killed including the two gunsmen, a large portion of the information that the public had received was incorrect. It says that after the shooting the two gunmen were portrayed as "loners" and "goths" who were angry at the world for years of being bullied and mistreated. It says that the media painted them as depressed, antisocial, and victims of violent video games. The article published by USA Today contradicts these ideas. It says that the attack planned by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold was not a cry for help, or a retaliation, but a grand show for all to see and fear. In many ways, the media responded exactly how the two murderers wanted them to. 

Where were the PR people when all of this was going on? Were the media and the public just getting fed the information that they wanted to hear? Does it make it easier to justify what happened if we think that a few nameless bullies and jocks were the ones to blame? I wonder how the information got to the media, how much of it was pure assumption, and who was in charge of sharing that information.