Do Not Mention Killer's Name

Colorado families ask media to stop using shooter’s name, image


(Associated Press) - This undated photo provided by the family shows Jessica Ghawi. Ghawi was one of the victims in the Friday, July 20, 2012 Aurora, Colo. movie theater shooting.
By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, July 24, 5:04 PMAP

NEW YORK — Some relatives of people killed in the Colorado theater shooting are urging television news outlets to resist using alleged killer James Holmes’ name and image in their stories for fear it gives him the infamy he craves.

Two families made that specific point to Anderson Cooper on CNN, who said Tuesday he has largely complied. Some news experts, while saying journalists must be attuned to these sensitivities, also warned against losing sight of the chief responsibility to inform the public.


(Teves Family/Associated Press ) - The undated photo provided by the family shows Alex Teves. Teves, 24, was one of the victims killed in the Friday, July 20, 2012 movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo.
Tom Teves, whose son Alex was among 12 people shot and killed Friday in Aurora, Colo. at a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises,” challenged TV news divisions during a Monday interview with Cooper.

“I would like to see CNN come out with a policy that said moving forward we’re not going to talk about the gunman,” Teves said. “What we’re going to say is, a coward walked into a movie theater and started shooting people. He’s apprehended. The coward’s in jail. He will never see the light of day again. Let’s move on to the victims. Never talk to him again.”

Jordan Ghawi, whose 24-year-old sister Jessica was killed, said he has been talking publicly about her in part because “I don’t want the media to be saturated with the shooter’s name. The more air time these victims have, the less time that man gets his time on television.


(Alex Brandon, File/ Associated Press ) - FILE - In this Monday, July 23, 2012 file photo, Tom and Caren Teves, whose son, Alex Teves, was one of the 12 people killed in Friday’s shooting attack at an Aurora, Colo., theater, wait outside the Arapahoe County Courthouse in Centennial, Colo. With their anger and tears stirred by the sight of James Holmes in a courtroom with red hair and glassy eyes, the families of those killed in the Colorado theater massacre now must go home
to plan their final goodbyes.
“I can tell you the shooter in Virginia Tech and Norway and not long ago here in Denver,” Ghawi told CNN on Friday. “I don’t want that to happen here. I want the victims to be remembered rather than just this coward.”

Cooper said he didn’t use Holmes’ name at all while he was on the air Monday, instead using phrases like “suspect,” ‘’accused killer” or “accused shooter.” He also tried to limit images of Holmes on his show, airing some from the suspect’s court appearance Monday about halfway through his hour-long newscast.

He said his show was acting on its own, not from some CNN directive.

“Obviously my primary role is to report and be a journalist and tell people as much as possible,” he said. “I think people know that person’s name. They certainly know it by now and they’ve certainly seen the pictures over and over again.”


(Alex Brandon/ Associated Press ) - Amanda Lindgren cries as she speaks about her boyfriend Alex Teves, at the Arapahoe County Courthouse, Monday, July 23, 2012, in Centennial, Colo. Teves was one of the 12 people killed in the shooting attack early Friday at an Aurora, Colo., theater during a showing of the Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Traveling to Colorado to report on the scene gives journalists a better idea of the community’s sensitivity than they might otherwise get, he said.

Certainly there have been instances where TV news organizations hold back, like when there are particularly gruesome pictures or if reporting could threaten a hostage’s life. American television networks resisted showing pictures of people jumping to their deaths from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 and, after the first day of the story, restricted use of video of the airplanes striking the Twin Towers.

But news executives constantly hear from people who don’t want disturbing pictures shown, either because they are painful or give undue publicity to people responsible for brutal acts, said Marcy McGinnis, a journalism professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a longtime former CBS News executive.