The power of a name — why we won’t identify the Manchester terror suspect
What’s the news value in knowing this person’s identity, and how does it stack up against the harm of making him world famous?
By the Editors of Kheiro Magazine
Names are an important and fiercely debated topic in journalism.
A named source is more credible than an unnamed source. A subject willing to both discuss their trauma and share their identity can create a more powerful connection with the reader than an anonymous victim. And simply naming suspects who are under investigation for corruption can help hold powerful individuals accountable.
Journalistic standards therefore dictate: use the name wherever you can.
Only in very rare situations does an editor balance the news value of someone’s identity against the harm that would come from publishing it, and then decide not to publish the name.
Typically the nameless are victims. For example, the rules of professional ethics dictate that victims of sexual abuse should not be named. Children and other victims of domestic violence are similarly off limits.
The names of suspects, however, are breaking news. In the case of Monday’s horrific terror attack at pop star Ariana Grande’s concert in Manchester, England, the suspect’s name emerged before any of the victims’ identities had been confirmed.
Before we learned of their stories, their lives, their dreams cut short, the suspect’s name and image received top billing on home pages around the world.
The contrast was so stark, so upsetting, that it got us thinking: why report the suspect’s name at all? Why show his face? What’s the news value in knowing this person’s identity, and how does it stack up against the harm of making him world famous?
Of course we want to know why he did it. We also want to know how to stop the next “him.” But we can tell that story with biographical details. We don’t need to make him famous: someone for extremists to champion and — even worse — to mimic, a martyr to whatever his perverse cause turns out to be.
Eventually we will write about him, but when we do, we won’t use his name, just as we won’t use the names of any other mass killers seeking notoriety and emulation.
And today, we are simply going to grieve for — and name — the victims.
Confirmed dead: Georgina Callander, John Atkinson, Saffie Roussos, Alison Howe and Lisa Lees, Olivia Campbell, Angelika and Marcin Klis, Kelly Brewster, Martyn Hett, Nell Jones, Jane Tweddle-Taylor, Michelle Kiss.
Their stories are here.
