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What's the big deal about naming names? (self.Journalism)

rubbarreporter が 投稿

There is a big circle jerk going on at /r/adviceanimals about the Sheriff John Hanlin not naming the shooter in Oregon.

A lot of people are upset that the media named him — Chris Mercer — often slipping down the slope "giving him fame will encourage others to do it."

What's the deal? Why are people so upset about it? Why are names important information for us to release? How do you respond to people that complain about crime reporting?

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[–]AngelaMotorman 6ポイント7ポイント  (5子コメント)

First, that sheriff may be a special case: he's an opponent of gun control, so who knows what factored into his decision to not name the shooter.

In general, the issue isn't printing the name of the shooter in a mass killing, but obsessing over the shooter. This is the issue for news organizations: to change the emphasis, to stop turning these killers into celebrities. But it's necessary to study the killers seriously: without knowing the names, the public would not know that many of these shooters exhibit serious social illiteracy and are thus drawn to scapegoating and conspiracism. These are social problems, not policing problems. Fixing them will require not only police investigations and new laws but also seismic shifts in the whole culture -- and for that, we all need to know exactly what went wrong.

EDIT: Added link

[–]RhinestoneTacoteacher 3ポイント4ポイント  (4子コメント)

You said it better than I could, but to be clear here:

In general, the issue isn't printing the name of the shooter in a mass killing, but obsessing over the shooter.

There are people who legitimately believe that the news media should not be allowed to publish the name, that somehow the name being there itself is what causes the shootings to happen.

[–]AngelaMotorman 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

I know. I spent a good part of this morning arguing with some of those folks, right here on reddit. For example, this. It's easier to argue with people who make the "shouldn't be allowed" version of the argument than the ones who simply want to demand that news orgs. change their policies.

BTW, I can't help flashing on the very similar arguments about whether the addresses of police officers should be public record ...

[–]RhinestoneTacoteacher 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

I know. I spent a good part of this morning arguing with some of those folks, right here on reddit.

Samesies.

BTW I dropped a link in that thread you posted that might be helpful, as they seemed at least ernest in their desire to learn.

[–]rubbarreporter[S] 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

There was one person in that adviceanimals thread that made a cogent argument, correlating mass shootings and reporting thereof to suicides and reporting thereof.

Basically, it was arguing we shouldn't report on mass murders because it encourages mass murders.

I guess it's a catch-22 (right?): report on the mass murder, everyone loses their minds. Don't report on the mass murder, everyone loses their minds.

[–]fiftytwohertzreporter 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

The catch-22 here is that some people be cray no matter what sane people do.

[–]raisedroofbeams 11ポイント12ポイント  (4子コメント)

It's at best misplaced anger and at worst bullshit sanctimony from people who are reading/watching everything they can about the guy anyway.

The job of the news media is to provide information, not to protect America from that information. Who committed a major crime is absolutely part of the story and pretending that it's not is disingenuous. The idea that the mainstream media has any ability to deny these guys notoriety is also nonsense, given that this shooter had every social media network obsessing over him hours before any news outlet had identified him.

Not wanting to glorify these people is absolutely right, but blaming the media for reporting basic information about them is nonsense.

[–]rubbarreporter[S] 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

... from people who are reading/watching everything they can about the guy anyway.

Ahh, I saw several references to this when people were complaining about journalists reaching out to a girl over twitter who was, well, live tweeting it.

Who committed a major crime is absolutely part of the story and pretending that it's not is disingenuous.

I am always perturbed by the people who come to me and say "Why are you reporting on crime? That's not good news; you shouldn't do that."

[–]fiftytwohertzreporter -1ポイント0ポイント  (0子コメント)

Fuck people who do that. They don't understand what news is, and we shouldn't be taking direction from sanctimonious idiots anyway.

[–]IAmACheekyChild 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

It is more than basic information, though. They report on everything about the guy. Hell, CNN is even comparing him to other shooters and putting up lists that look frighteningly close to leaderboards. I agree that he should be named. I disagree that he should be the subject of reporting.

[–]raisedroofbeams 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yeah, that's a different question - I think it's totally fair to criticize the tone/obsessiveness of some coverage, especially the 24-hour news networks. There are a lot of people objecting to the basic practice of reporting the facts of the case, though, which I think is silly.

[–]steeveperry 5ポイント6ポイント  (2子コメント)

The second we stop naming names is the second everyone changes their tune and starts bitching about censorship, or even worse, labeling everything as a conspiracy. This is a lose-lose situation.

[–]rubbarreporter[S] 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

Well derp.

Gotta love being treated like the monster coming down from the hillside to terrorize the towns people.

[–]steeveperry 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

I swear, most readers are too dumb for their own good.

[–]hermione_no 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself -- Dumbledore

[–]shark3006 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

I was thinking about this yesterday. I think it's similar to people saying they don't want to read about celebrities in the paper, but then eating it up anyway.

There's a morbid curiosity that comes with things like this, and a fear, too. Even if they say they don't, people want to know about the killer. They want to know what he was like before he snapped, want to know what he liked and how he acted. And they start to think if they know anyone like that. It's a sensible response.

What we don't need to do, though, is plaster this guy's name on every TV screen and front page for a month.

[–]tranam 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Reddit is on a kick.

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