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This Mother Jones article sums up the argument cogently: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/media-inspires-mass-shooters-copycats http://www.motherjone
by nikatwork 11y ago
This Mother Jones article sums up the argument cogently: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/media-inspires-mass-shooters-copycats http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/media-inspires-m...
It's not just murders. Australian media will often not report suicides to prevent triggering copycats.
- shkkmo 11y agoI don't agree that that provides any backing for this plugin: The potential mass murders have no way to know that you won't see their name. This would have to become a viral phenomenon and be reported on extensively to even possibly have any effect beyond making you feel better. I severely doubt this plugin could ever have a material effect on the number of people who read the names. This also does nothing to punish those news organizations that do publish names and faces for mass murderers and since the people who care about this won't know who does and doesn't, it actually reduces the incentive for news organization to not publish names for faces. Want to make a plugin that has an effect? Make a plugin that blacklists any news site that publishes names/faces so that when you try to read ANY article from those sites, the plugin instead finds similar articles from non-blacklisted publishers and displays links to those instead.