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Guidance Reminder: Use Names Of Mass Shooting Suspects Sparingly

NPR | By Mark Memmott

Published August 8, 2019 at 7:10 AM CDT

As we've had to say too often, thank you for getting so many things right as we've covered the latest mass shootings.

Here's one thing to continue keeping in mind:

"The name [of the suspect/shooter/murderer/terrorist] does not have to be in every story we broadcast about the killer [or said more than once or twice]. We can be respectful of the feelings of those in the audience who find it disturbing to hear the name over and over, and respectful of those who sincerely believe that repeating the name somehow glorifies a horrible person."

Mark Memmott

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

See stories by Mark Memmott