Is the media fueling Magnotta’s ego?

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Infamous Montreal murder suspect Luka Magnotta seems fascinated by his media image, but are news outlets feeding his obsession by covering this story?

Magnotta appears to want a measure of celebrity, posting what is believed to a video of the murder online, and closely monitoring international coverage of the story. When he was caught by police in Germany, he was reading web stories of his case at an Internet cafe.

Vancouver media expert George Orr says this isn’t the first time he’s seen this kind of obsessive behaviour.

“Clifford Olsen kept clippings of stories that were about him,” explains Orr. “I think people like that have a degree of self-validation they use the media for — Do I exist? Does the world know about me? Am I notorious?”

Many are asking whether the media has played a role in feeding this obsession with their coverage. But Orr says news outlets don’t have any choice but to follow this story.

“It’s just horrifying, so how could you not tell the story. It’s sort of like saying are we playing into Hitler’s hands by covering the second war? He [Magnotta] may have thought initially ‘Gee I can be famous.’ But I think he’s discovering that his kind of fame is not so much fun.”

Orr believes the anger at the media’s portrayal of the Magnotta case comes from the fact the public is so emotionally involved in such a graphic story.

Magnotta is set to be extradited to Canada next week.

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