Moderator Note
Rape and murder are two different things, and releasing the name of the victim vs. the perpetrator is also a significantly different discussion. Let’s drop this hijack over rape crimes and get back to the topic of the OP, please.
NM
Simulposted with ECG
Well, then the media has already started not using the names of mass murderers.
Just one week ago, newsrooms mobilized to cover yet another mass shooting, this time in a municipal building in Virginia Beach. As they told the story of the 12 murders, the vast majority of newspapers and TV stations covering the tragedy embraced the practice of not using the shooter’s name unless it was absolutely necessary.
For an industry that is often criticized for being slow to change, this development is remarkable.
It demonstrates that newsrooms can alter their standards and practices in a fairly dramatic way over a relatively short period of time when presented with convincing evidence, even after refusing to make those same changes in the face of public pressure but weak evidence. Even so, stepping forward into the new best practice, journalists are still clearly looking for the balance of relevant accountability reporting about the backgrounds of specific shooters that informs citizens without glorifying a criminal at the expense of victims or worse, creating materials that will inspire future mass murders.
The pressure to not name shooters began in 2012, after the attack on a Colorado movie theater. Tom and Caren Teves, whose son Alex died in the shooting, founded the No Notoriety movement. Four years ago, in 2015, CNN’s Anderson Cooper pledged not to utter a shooter’s name. Just two years ago in 2017, a handful of local and national news anchors followed suit. …
So. yes the media can do it, as they have done it.
“The media” has done no such thing. A few advocate it, and fewer still are following through on it.
Unless and until it becomes the norm, the names will still be revealed by media companies looking out for the bottom line.
I’m not sure I understand the theory. I don’t know the name of the guy who did yesterday’s fedex shooting. Maybe it hasn’t been released yet, maybe the media knows and hasn’t said, or maybe I haven’t looked hard enough (as I don’t care what his --or her–name was. It’s not likely someone I knew). BUT, the shooting is all over the news. The next guy knows his mass murder is going to get covered, whether his name is used or not. Does he really care that much about being named in a story about carnage and his probable death? In other words, there’s going to be media attention whether we name the murderer or not.
I’m not sure I’m following the discussion. Is the OP’s point that the media should not have mentioned the name of officer Chauvin? That the media shouldn’t say the name of a police officer accused of killing a citizen?
What if they knew that the news media would refer to them as (for example) “the pimply-faced loser in Indianapolis”.
An untenable solution, I know.
I think the Op is talking about mass shooters, school killers and the like.
And yes, experts in the field say that not saying the names of school shooters would reduce school shootings.
Experts say a lot of things. I’m skeptical. .
Peer reviewed published papers.
Regardless, it’s probably a smaller factor than other things.
Mass shooters’ names get published in other countries, they still don’t get anywhere near to the number of mass shooters per capita.
So while I would support such journalistic norms, I hope this doesn’t deflect from the government implementing the measures that would actually have an appreciable effect.
There are a few reasons the media not using the killer’s name would be problematic:
• When the shooter is still at large, the name is important. It’d be silly for the media to say, “Someone shot 14 people, but we’re not going to tell you who. Hey, if he hasn’t killed you by now, maybe you’re in the clear!”
•People who know the shooter and would come forward to help piece together evidence or uncover a motive wouldn’t be able to do so. I guess you could show the shooter’s photo or police sketch, but you’d have to hope everyone who knew him or her would see it and would be able to recognize the culprit from that.
• Some serial killers and mass murderers don’t get off on publicity and might be encouraged by the anonymity afforded to others.
I was actually concentrating on school shooters, and afaik, Canada doesnt broadcast the name?
Going over this list (mostly USA) I see Brazil, Baku, Germany (3-4 shootings there all with no name) , Finland, Argentine, Netherlands, & Canada all have missing shooter names. Mind you it doesnt say why.
Recently a “contagion” effect has been suggested wherein the occurrence of one mass shooting increases the likelihood of another mass shooting occurring in the near future. Although contagion is a convenient metaphor used to describe the temporal spread of a behavior, it does not explain how the behavior spreads. Generalized imitation is proposed as a better model to explain how one person’s behavior can influence another person to engage in similar behavior.
Here we provide an overview of generalized imitation and discuss how the way in which the media report a mass shooting can increase the likelihood of another shooting event. Also, we propose media reporting guidelines to minimize imitation and further decrease the likelihood of a mass shooting.
If the manner with which the media (legacy, new, social) report a mass shooting event plays a role in promoting further mass shootings, changing these reporting methods could decrease imitation. This tactic has been effective in decreasing imitated suicide,15 and the World Health Organization, citing 50 years of research on imitation, has posted media guidelines on reporting suicides to prevent imitational suicides.16 The guidelines include suggestions such as not sensationalizing suicide (e.g., suggesting an “epidemic”), avoiding prominent headlines, not suggesting that suicide is caused by any single factor such as depression, not repeating the story too frequently, not providing step-by-step descriptions of methods, limiting use of photographs and videos, and being particularly careful with celebrity suicides.
Similar suggestions have been provided for reporting mass shootings. For instance, the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training team, in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has developed the “Don’t Name Them” campaign. The campaign aims to curb media-induced imitational mass shootings and suggests minimizing naming and describing the individuals involved in mass shootings, limiting sensationalism, and refusing to broadcast shooter statements or videos. James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, followed a similar strategy in describing the 2016 shooting in Orlando:
Note that I am not saying that in any way this is the only cause of the rash of school shootings tec in the USA. There are other factors of course.
Thanks for posting that. Interesting.
Hard to argue with this:
If the manner with which the media (legacy, new, social) report a mass shooting event plays a role in promoting further mass shootings, changing these reporting methods could decrease imitation. (emphasis added)
Moreover, the article lists 6 potential changes in how mass shootings are reported None of those changes are “don’t name the shooter.”
Firstly, Googling school shootings in Germany for example, lists the names of the perpetrators, no problem. And indeed, I can find contemporary German-language news stories with the names. I didn’t bother to Google the other countries, as being this obviously wrong for the first country I googled is not a good start.
Secondly, you’re missing the point. I said, specifically, that not publishing the names may well be beneficial. My point was that we mustn’t let this deflect us from the larger measures (I won’t name such measures, for risk of hijacking the thread, but let’s say I’m thinking of an anagram of “Gnu control”). The US is exceptional among developed countries in the number of per capita mass shootings. It is not exceptional in how it reports such crimes when they occur. Clearly printing the names is not the critical factor here.
Speaking as a member of the public, I WANT TO KNOW THEIR FUCKING NAMES.
There were onlhy three incidents from Canada on that list, and in two of them (Dawson College and Quebec City Mosque), the shooter is named.
The third one (Taber, Alberta), the shooter was under 18 and therefore his name was not released under the Young Offenders Act.
I also want to know their names.
I want to know when they go to court, and the results of that trial.
I would like to see the death penalty being the norm, rather than the exception, at least for cases of mass murder.
And I would also like to know that once such a sentence is passed, the convicted murderer will be lying under a stone with their name on it in a timely manner.
I would also like to see the “not guilty by mental disease or defect” plea eliminated in the case of murders, especially a multiple-shooting incident like what happened at the FedEx facility, or the tavern in Wisconsin, or even the incident of the sniper at the Las Vegas concert, because – really – who but an insane nutter would go into a building and open fire just because they were p-o’d at someone or something? Yet there are other people with mental issues out there who DON’T go into a school or workplace with the guns a-blazing, so let’s not say that ‘oh, the poor bugger couldn’t help himself.’
You might as well say that about all crimes and criminals — “there’s no such thing as a bad man, only a SICK one.”
-“BB”-
I agree with this part. I completely disagree with the rest. The government shouldn’t kill. Death should not be a legal punishment ever. Retribution is not justice.
I would rather see repeal of the second amendment and strict controls on manufacture, sales, ownership, and possession of all firearms.
Maybe not, but it is an effective deterrent. Of all the murderers, horse thieves, or cattle rustlers who swung from the end of a noose back in the old West, not a single one of them ever rustled cattle, stole horses, or killed anyone ever again.
And I’m sure that the fact that people KNEW something like this was going to happen if they got caught kept a fair number of them walking on the straight and narrow path.
-“BB”-