X-box blamed for child’s death
Cast your mind back to February 1993. The Bulger case ruled the media. The story was a tragedy that shocked the nation. The newspapers at this time caused moral panic about films. The film Child’s Play 3 was being used as a scapegoat by (the boys and media) for the murder of Jamie Bulger. However, there was no link found between the film and the murder.
Yet again in 2010, another tragedy has hit the headlines and this time the connection is with an electronic console. The X-box.
Gary Alcock has been sentenced a minimum of twenty-one years in prison after killing his 15-month year old daughter. The Telegraph, said he “flew into a rage” after his daughter started crying whilst he was playing the X-box. See the full article. Due to the sensitive nature of this article I do not wish to write endlessly about this horrific incident.
However, it is important to recognise the media’s blame on an electronic device for such a devastating murder, instead of looking at the real problem.
Yet again, perhaps more should/could have been done to prevent this from happening. Alcock had a history of violence and it was reported that Alcock had attacked the daughter three weeks prior to her death. This draws attention to how was this crime (three weeks before) left unnoticed by anyone?
The sad underlying issue in this story also lies with the girl’s mother. She put her relationship before her daughter’s safety, and in this case, life. It is heart wrenching to read such a horrific case like this and it yet again emphasises the lack of communication in society. How did this go unnoticed by anyone? What measures need to be put in place to ensure this does not happen again?
To start, the media need to help society and stop constructing misleading/mocking headlines:
‘Bully’ Killed Girl For Interrupting Xbox Fun [Sky News]
Man killed tot who interrupted X-Box playing [Cnews]
Gary Alcock gets life in prison for brutally beating baby who interrupted his video game playing [NY Daily News]
Rebecca's Rambles... 
Julian Assange risks his life with his diplomatic cables relases and these journalists don’t have better things to do than mocking a baby murder???
You’re awfully right that the media need to help society. I hope they remember how to do it.
I could not believe this! But i can’t see how this is the fault of Xbox, this man was clearly not stable, and I can’t believe this woman would ever let some one who was abusive to their child stay in their house. Society should have looked into this sooner, however I think it is a mothers responsibility to not let someone like that care for their child!