Why we avoid naming mass killers

Do you know the name of the man who shot up the Henry Pratt factory in Aurora, killing five people, earlier this year?

I don't. Honestly. I'm not sure I ever did. And I oversee newsroom operations.

If you know his name, you very likely didn't hear it from us. We mentioned it once, inside the paper, the day after his rampage. We didn't write about his background and we've never run a photo of him.

Why?

Because we don't want to feed the glory-seeking thoughts of other troubled people.

It's a strict policy of ours not to name mass shooters or, if it's completely necessary to mention it only once.

We've published stories about more mass shootings than we care to think of. We remember Sandy Hook, Parkland, Northern Illinois University, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Las Vegas. But we don't remember the names of the perpetrators in those horrible events. We remember the innocent victims instead.

Any tidbit of understanding we might divine from plumbing the psyche of a mass shooter is eclipsed by the harm it could bring to others if that person's fame might inspire someone else to do the same.

We've seen this catching on. Aurora's police chief refuses to speak the man's name. Anderson Cooper is following suit.

Jim Baumann is Daily Herald managing editor.