NZ leader: No name, no notoriety
Journalists wrestle with how to cover attacks
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Tuesday the man suspected of killing 50 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch wants notoriety, and she refuses to give it to him.
“One thing I can assure you – you won’t hear me speak his name,” she said.
Ardern’s comments reflect research that shows elevating the identity of the perpetrator in mass shootings leads to copycats.
“A lot of perpetrators want fame,” said Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama who studies mass shootings. “Simply reporting that this happened is not going to lead to a bunch of a copycat attacks. It’s the coverage of individuals as de facto celebrities that is problematic.”
In the Orlando, Florida, nightclub shooting in 2016, the shooter called a news station during his attack, then checked Facebook to see if he had “gone viral.” In a video made before the Parkland, Florida, shooting in 2018, the gunman bragged about the forthcoming attack and said, “When you see me on the news, you’ll all know who I am.” In New Zealand last week, a helmet-mounted camera captured footage of the killings that was livestreamed on Facebook and posted on YouTube and Twitter. It has since been removed.
Lankford conducted a study in 2017 that looked at seven mass killings during 2013–2017 and found the killers received more media coverage than professional athletes. He said he’ll present a new study at the National Science Foundation next month showing that since 2010, there’s been a more than 80 percent increase in highly lethal mass shooters that were influenced by a previous attacker.
“When you’re giving the Charleston church shooter as much attention as Tom Cruise or Kim Kardashian, why would you be surprised that a tiny percentage of people believe he is worthy of their worship and should be imitated?” Lankford said.
Journalists report the details of mass shootings and name mass shooters as part of the public’s right to know. Informing the public about warning signs could help prevent future incidents. But the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics states journalists should “balance the public’s need for information against potential harm.”
Campaigns aim to educate the media and the public on the dangers of sensationalizing mass killers. The Don’t Name Them campaign, sponsored by the FBI, and the No Notoriety campaign, started by family members of the victims of the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooting, advocate downplaying the perpetrator’s name and likeness, unless he or she is at large, and shifting the focus to victims and survivors.
In February, David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland shooting, criticized USA TODAY for its coverage of mass shootings, calling it “one of the best news organizations at making mass shooters famous in the first place. They always plaster the shooter’s face everywhere.”
“USA TODAY takes seriously its role as the nation’s newspaper,” the organization said in a statement. “We also take seriously the concerns of our audiences. This is how we improve. Our newsrooms care deeply about how the news we report affects our local communities. We live in and are part of these communities. We also have grieved. We will continue to discuss how best to cover the ongoing tragedy of mass shootings.”
As mass shootings increase, media organizations and watchdogs issue guidance on how to cover them responsibly. In its list of best practices, the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit journalism school, says to “name the shooter infrequently and only when his name is critical to helping your audience understand what happened.”
News organizations have an obligation to “minimize harm,” said Lynn Walsh, ethics chair at the SPJ.
“We are constantly weighing whether or not the public’s right to know outweighs the amount of harm that could be caused by publishing this information,” she said. “While it is a journalist’s responsibility to answer the who, what, where, when, why of any story they are covering, I think, when it comes to mass shootings, once the initial identity of the shooter has been made public, there is not much more benefit to the public to continue publishing (or) airing the individual’s name, photos, etc.”
In a passionate speech to Parliament, Ardern said she hopes the public will avoid giving the gunman the fame he craves.
“He obviously had a range of reasons for committing this atrocious terrorist attack,” she said. “Lifting his profile was one of them. And that’s something that we can absolutely deny him.”
“One thing I can assure you – you won’t hear me speak his name”
Jacinda Ardern
New Zealand prime minister