Today CNN has posted what I’m going to call the “Misleading Headline of the Day” and it involves (shock of shocks!) sensationalizing the involvement of video games in gun violence.

Today’s headline reads: “Video game behind off-campus shooting”

Let’s examine the story: Guy allegedly steals a Playstation, owners confront him, he shoots at them, killing one person and injuring two others.

Now, I’m no journalist, but it seems to me that CNN is being sensational and irresponsible in their wording. If I had to guess, I’d say that an editor is trying very hard to combine the words “video game” and “behind shooting.” And, since the people involved were college students, CNN goes ahead and throws in the word “campus” just to spice it up a bit and get the attention of concerned parents. Omit just four characters of that headline and it reads “Video game behind campus shooting.” Hmm… could they be trying to use events at Virginia Tech to get more traffic to this story?

Furthermore, I doubt the conflict would have happened if we were just talking about a video game (as in, the relatively inexpensive software one plays on a game console). The fact of the matter is that a Playstation console was stolen, probably a $500 Playstation 3. But read the headline again, doesn’t it conjure up images of bleary eyed teenagers playing a Jack Thompson “murder simulator” while plotting a twisted spree of violence?

The headline should have read “Alleged theft of video game console leads to shooting.” The key word here is “theft.” A video game did not insight this violence, theft did.

Shame on CNN for distorting the facts and demonizing the wrong party in an effort to sell the news. No media bias? Sure, tell that to Sony.