The study “News media heeding call to reduce reporting names of mass shooters” by Thomas J. Hrach from The University of Memphis looked at whether the news media has heeded the demand to not report the names of mass shooters.

The issue of reporting the names of mass shooters is contentious. On the one hand, news media generally seek to present as much information as thoroughly as is concisely possible, but on the other hand,  the public, lawmakers and victims’ rights advocates seek to argue that this may create a “contagion effect” and encourage more mass shootings.

The previous literature on the issue has centered on three topics. First is the research on media’s procedures and routines. Second is the research on the causes of mass shootings and the contagion effect. Third is research on how the media frames the coverage of mass shootings. 

The research questions were as follows, straight from the study: 

“RQ1:

Is there a connection between the number of people killed in U.S. mass shootings from 1999 to 2021 to the number of news articles where the perpetrator’s name is used within a week of the shooting?

RQ2:

Has the number of news articles where the perpetrators’ name is used within a week of a U.S. mass shooting changed in any period from 1999 to 2021?

RQ3:

Is there a connection between the number of news articles where the perpetrators’ name is used within a week of a U.S. mass shooting and whether perpetrators die in the attack?”

The method was that a list of mass shootings was compiled from available archives, with three deadlies (as defined by people killed) shootings were chosen for each year of analysis from 1999 to 2021. Then, the names of the perpetrators were searched from Newsbank. The units of analysis, finally, were single news articles (N=62249).

The data showed that the number of casualties correlated positively with the mentions of the name of the shooter in all years from 1999 to 2021. Thus, the answer t RQ1 is yes. In answering RQ2, it was first found out that there was no difference from 1999 to 2021, but looking closer, there was a decline from 2012 to 2021 – so the answer is also yes – declined from 2012 to 2021 and projected to continue to decline.

However, perpetrators dying in the attack did not mean fewer news articles, thus the answer to RQ3 is no – there is no correlation. 

In conclusion, the research showed that there was indeed a strong correlation with the number of people killed and the mentions of the names of the shooters throughout the time period. It seemed that 2012 was a turning point year when news media started to heed the call to avoid mentioning the names of the shooters, as starting from then the mentions have declined. One such campaign was the #NoNoteriety campaign from parents of two people killed in Aurora, Colorado, who demanded that no names or photos of shooters be used.

The article “News media heeding call to reduce reporting names of mass shooters” by Thomas J. Hrach is in Newspaper Research Journal. (free abstract). 

Picture: Untitled by Max Kleinen. 

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