Case Study – https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2516427/Sandy-Hook-shooter-Adam-Lanza-83k-online-kills-massacre.html

Concern – We can see concern in the headline, where it emphasises the number of kills that Lanza got, and refers to the games he played as “violent” and that they were a method of “training” for his murders.

Hostility – When using a picture of Lanza, The Daily Mail comments on his weight and how he was not on medication at the time. They accompany this with an image of three FPS games claimed to be in his possession, further driving the idea that video games were semi responsible for the killings.

Consensus – The agreement that the newspaper comes to is that Lanza’s mum allowing him to play “violent” video games such as Call of Duty factored into him becoming a killer.

Disproportion – The statistics used here are intended to shock readers, due to the seemingly high amount of time spent and kills achieved on ‘Combat Arms’. However, it may be argued that E-Sports competitors would spend similar amounts of time on video games, and that doesn’t instantly determine that they too will go out and murder people.

Volatility – The comments on the article seem to suggest that at the time, the press was commonly trying to link violent video games to the behaviour of murderers, which audiences challenged.