The media obviously didn't learn anything from their coverage of last year's school shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

Reporters, especially ones for TV network news, used some of the same unethical and even dangerous techniques in their breaking reports of another shooting last week at Santana High School near San Diego. Networks came under fire nearly two years ago for airing cellular telephone conversations between journalists and students still inside Columbine High School shortly after Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris gunned down 12 classmates and a teacher. Media critics argued the broadcasting of these calls jeopardized the students trapped inside the school in case another shooter remained in the building. They also warned the unedited conversations could leak information the authorities did not want released yet, such as the names of the victims.

Reporters from several of the major news networks used similar conversations during their breaking coverage of the Santana shooting. The stations aired the names of the students and their locations in the building in some cases without knowing if another gunman still remained in the school. The broadcasters violated a fundamental cornerstone of journalism because their techniques did not minimize harm to their subjects.

Journalists at Santana also had the same kind of pack mentality as their brethren at Columbine. Shortly after one station reported a new piece of information, a competitor would also broadcast the fact, citing "unnamed sources" for the breaking news. When newspapers or stations supply stories without doing their own work, they run the risk of getting incorrect information and reducing their own credibility by perpetuating the mistakes.

The media need to re-evaluate their news values. They need to think about how their coverage will affect children and other students and worry less about being the first one on the scene or the one with the most information. By using the cellular phone interviews, reporters sensationalize the transpiring events because they have the student inside the school discussing the victim and shooters and what the scene looks like before thinking of how the broadcast could harm or influence the other students and even their source himself.

Journalists and reporters who cover school shootings seem more callous with each incident. By treating these events as simply run-of-the-mill occurrences through their formulaic coverage of them, viewers tend to believe the media do not have any compassion or sympathy for the victims. It also causes viewers to believe such violence is the norm and not the exception that it is.

Although news coverage provides much-needed information for families and friends of affected by the school shootings, the media must ensure their sensationalistic practices do not encourage copycat acts.

Journalists covering these tragic school shootings cannot continue to compromise basic practices of compassion, accuracy, and truthfulness — fundamental characteristics every good journalist and news organizations should possess.