Reporting on the motive of a spree-killer; what’s the point?

Since Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords was shot point blank in the head last week, the news media has been consumed by the motive of the “accused” shooter, 22 year old, Jared Lee Loughner, who actually managed to kill 6 people that day.

What motivates a monster?

Reporting on motive is not only ethically problematic, but redundant. No one but Loughner knows his motive (if he knows it himself). Everything else is just assumption, speculation and (very cynically) filler.

One doesn’t actually need to do any reporting to talk about Loughner’s motive. They can just talk. Of course opinion has always had a place in journalism, and in today’s omnipresent journalism it’s pervasive to the point of excess, but, in the end speculation is really nothing more than a literal definition of a waste of time.

Gossip is pointless and ideally should have no place in a journalism that seeks to educate and improve the citizenry it claims to serve. If your viewer/listener/reader learns nothing; why even bother?