Naming the Shooters.... It's Your Job as a Journalist
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When it it comes to Journalism, it used to be a simple formula of the five W’s.
Who? What? Where? When? and Why?
To tell the story, you needed to include these to make sure you were telling the entire story.
But, so called Journalists say that they are no longer giving out the name of the shooters in mass killings, because that is “what the shooter wants.”
As a Journalist, isn’t it your job to tell the full story?
Journalists have a job to tell the story. You cover a trial and you tell viewers how a rapist found his victim in a park. The victim doesn’t want this story to be told on the news, but it is your job to do it.
Being a Journalist is an awesome job, but sometimes you have to report on stories that turn your stomach and are flat out disgusting. But, it is your job!
Not naming the shooting suspect is not doing your job.
Also, since we have so many mass shootings now-a-days does it really make a difference in not giving the shooter’s name?
A guy gunned down people less than a week and a half ago at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, can you remember his name?
How about the guy that opened fire at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
Do you remember his name?
These days, mass shootings happen so often that it is hard to remember who the shooter is and it does not take long to forget.
No one is talking about the Gilroy mass shooting and it happened just last week.
You’re a Journalist, tell the full story and hold the people that can make a difference accountable until the killings stop.
Make a difference, but tell the full story.
That is your job.
