Media’s empathetic coverage of Luigi Mangione reveals an obsession with humanizing white male suspects

Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old who allegedly shot and killed the United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has received an avalanche of media attention as people attempt to understand what may have driven him to commit such a violent crime.

Since Mangione’s arrest, news reports have attempted to piece together his supposed motivations, with some suggesting that a back injury – and his resulting inability to have intercourse – fueled his alleged resentment against the healthcare industry. Other reports have painted Mangione as a reclusewho rejected his affluent upbringing, openly speculating on the “baffling journey” of a “star student”.

On social media, Mangione has received sympathy and, in some cases, has been celebrated for his suspected role in the murder. Meanwhile, a fundraiser for Mangione’s legal defense has collected nearly $150,000. Many have turned Mangione into a “martyr”, said Dr Joseph Richardson, a professor of African American studies, medical anthropology and epidemiology at the University of Maryland. But, he adds: “We clearly know had [Mangione] been a young Black man, the narrative would be different”.

The overwhelming media narrative reinforces the idea that only certain people commit crime

Pamela Mejia, director of research at Berkeley Media Studies Group

The wall-to-wall coverage of Mangione has been interpreted as a result of Thompson’s status as a healthcare industry executive in a country where many people are frustrated about rising healthcare costs and lack of insurance coverage. But the acceptance of that explanation itself reflects a racist double standard. As Richardson sees it, the empathetic media coverage is a symptom of “white male privilege”.

Multiple studies have shown that white male perpetrators of gun violence, especially ones in high profile incidents such as mass shootings, are often depicted more compassionately by news outlets. According to one study, publications routinely speculate about white perpetrators’ mental health as a possible explanation for their actions, painting a complex picture of their motivations, whereas suspects of color are reduced to racial stereotypes.

White perpetrators’ mental health struggles are considered with consistently greater sympathy. For instance, Adam Lanza, who shot and killed six adults and 20 children in 2012 at the Sandy Hook School in Connecticut, was reported by several news outlets as having been failed by mental health experts and the victim of bullying. Jared Loughner, who murdered 19 people in a 2011 mass shooting in Tuscon, Arizona, was referred to as “troubled” in news reports, including in a profile tracing his upbringing. And in the 1999 Columbine school shooting, in which 15 people were killed, several news outlets perpetuated a myth that the shooters were bullied, and speculated about what resources could’ve been provided to prevent the shooting.