News Media Heeding Call to Limit Naming Perpetrators in Mass Shootings

The research, not yet published, examined mass shooting news coverage starting with the Columbine High School killings in 1999 and ending with the Indianapolis FedEx hub killings in 2021. My findings confirmed what previous research had shown: The more deaths there were, the more news reports used the perpetrator’s name. That was true for the entire time period.

But there was a turning point in 2012. Taking into consideration the number of people killed in a mass shooting, the number of times the news media used the perpetrators’ name in news reports started to decline.

After a July 2012 mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater, relatives of the victims asked that the state’s governor not to mention the perpetrator’s name at a memorial service where the victims’ names would be read. Victim advocates and family members wanted to give no publicity to the killer out of concerns that notoriety was one of the perpetrator’s motives.

The governor’s public remarks referred to the shooter only as “Suspect A.” Later that year, the mass shooting of elementary school children and school staff in Newtown, Connecticut, shocked the nation. In that case, the name of the perpetrator in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was widely circulated in news reports.

The decision to avoid naming mass shooting perpetrators is based on the idea that people who engage in mass shooting attacks do it out of the desire for publicity. Certainly, there is anecdotal evidence that some mass shooters use the media to gain notoriety from their attacks. The 2007 Virginia Tech shooter paused his killing spree to mail photos of himself to NBC News. The 2014 Isla Vista shooter posted a manifesto on YouTube before he began killing.

Is There a Risk of Not Knowing?
Certainly news organizations can dig deep into the backgrounds of mass shooters without ever naming the person. My research did not determine whether reducing the times a mass shooter is named was connected with reducing the amount of coverage of mass shooters’ background and motives. But the name is a concrete, basic piece of information about a person.

Supporters of not naming perpetrators make the case that the less written, spoken or known about the perpetrators, the better. It also eliminates any incentive for perpetrators to become famous from such horrific acts. Whether this trend of reducing the naming of mass shooters helps reduce mass shootings or perhaps makes them more likely is not something my research can determine.

Mass shootings happen for a host of reasons. Lax gun laws in the U.S. and the lack of mental health services are two of the most discussed reasons. Some say they are unavoidable random events that cannot be stopped.

It is not yet clear how much notoriety is a factor for potential shooters. But we do know that the news media is heeding the call to limit naming perpetrators in mass shootings.

Thomas J. Hrach is Associate Professor, Department of Journalism and Strategic Media, University of Memphis.This article is published courtesy of The Conversation.