Hong Kong knife attacks spark warning over impact of violent, graphic news amid possible ‘copycat’ events
- Many people, especially youngsters on social media, might share violent or graphic content without fully considering implications, Timothy To of Post Crisis Counselling Network says
- He also warns ‘copycat attacks’ – where high-profile crime is followed by series of similar ones within short period – can be difficult to avoid but people should be aware of risks involved in sharing content
Hongkongers should think carefully about how they consume news that covers violent or graphic events, experts have cautioned, after knife attacks at shopping centres two days in a row.
Timothy To Wing-ching, executive director of the Post Crisis Counselling Network, also said “copycat attacks” – where a high-profile crime was followed by a series of similar ones within a short period – were complex and difficult to avoid, but urged people to be aware of risks involved in sharing content.
Videos of passers-by and shopping centre staff using trolleys and ladders to subdue a knifeman began going viral on social media on Wednesday night, shortly after the incident occurred at Sha Tin’s Shui Chuen O Plaza.
The attacker was seen wielding a 30cm-long (12 inch) kitchen knife and had allegedly wounded a Fairwood restaurant cashier.
Another man was arrested in Lam Tin on Thursday on suspicion of injuring two people with a knife at Kai Tin Shopping Centre.
Police said preliminary investigations showed the assailant did not know his victims.
“It is absolutely possible the latter case was a copycat incident,” To said. “But to be honest, I have read a lot of academic research on this, and it is very challenging to prevent.
“It is the media’s role to report facts … it is also human nature for the public to want to share videos and images online,” he said, adding the modern widespread use of smartphones meant such incidents could spread quickly on social media.
He also said people who committed copycat crimes were likely to have complex personality disorders, with antisocial tendencies that drove them to seek attention through mimicking others’ harmful actions.
“Something that should be avoided is the presentation of such acts in a heroic way … or describing the process in detail,” said Olivia Li Wai-tung, a clinical psychologist at Hong Kong Red Cross.
She said it was “essential” for news media to uphold the “need to know” principle when reporting on such cases.
Li said social media and news companies should take steps to reduce the negative impact of violent or graphic content on their platforms, such as attaching warnings to related images or adding them to the beginning of videos.
To also urged the public to be more mindful of what they shared online.
He said many people, especially youngsters on social media, might share violent or graphic content without fully considering the implications, driven by a desire to be helpful rather than malicious.
There was also a psychological principle called “negativity bias”, he said, where people tended to focus more on negative information.
This could lead to overreaction or the spreading of negative narratives, even when the original intent was neutral.
Michelle Chan Yuen-tung, a counselling psychologist at the Hong Kong Red Cross, said it was typical for some people who witnessed violent attacks in person or watched photos or videos of them online to experience levels of distress for some time.
Symptoms included flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, insomnia or fatigue.
“For most people, these reactions will gradually reduce as we have natural coping strategies and maintain our daily routines,” she said. “It could be very useful to spend time with people who can support and share our feelings.”
To said it was also important for people to figure out ways of consuming news that were suitable to them.
“People get affected in many different ways, so we need to identify which of our five senses can overwhelm us,” he said. “Some people are visual types where videos and images greatly affect them … they should consider switching to getting their news through audio instead, like the radio.
“And if both image and audio impact you, then consider switching to reading about it.”
To added that the size of the screen mattered too. He said a study of more than 300 cases following the Manila hostage crisis involving Hongkongers in 2010 found two-thirds of people reported being highly affected by the images.
“One hundred per cent of those cases had small homes with a large television, so they were very close to the images and it was much more immersive for them,” he said. “So one can also consider switching to their phones for lower impact.”
Chan King-cheung, a media ethics professor at Baptist University, agreed it was nearly impossible to regulate what people shared on social media and any attempts to do so would raise concerns of infringement of freedom of speech.
“You also cannot expect social media companies to govern the content, because they are platforms, not media outlets, and they maintain they should not be moderators of what users post,” Chan said.
Instead, he urged individuals to be mindful of misinformation and to refrain from sharing “poor quality content” that came from unreliable sources.
