When reporting a sexual assault the media does not list the name of the victim with rare exceptions (one being that the victim chooses to have their name made public). The public still gets the story but some news is purposely withheld because in balance, privacy trumps our need to know.
I think the media should consider a similar policy for random shooters like at Virginia Tech, Von Maur in Iowa, etc. Report everything else but report nothing about the shooter himself (it's always a male). No name, no background, no history. Do not even count them in the total of the people killed if they died.
This would stop those who want publicity out of what they do. If they see that they become a non-entity, then the quest for fame will work against someone choosing to kill others for whatever twisted reason they have driving them. And while locally people will still tend to know who the shooter was, others reading about it will generally not realize that.
This does not mean we don't learn from it. In professional journals for police, psychiatry, teaching, etc there should be full discussion of all relevant facts as the articles discuss warning signs, how to respond, etc. But these should be limited to professional communication - no one is going to come up with a way to respond to these situations by reading about it on CNN.com.
So to the media, I ask that you come up with a policy of what you will not report in these stories. Talk to the experts on what drives people to shoot in these cases and do not report what could give others reason to go do the same thing. And we will all thank you for telling us a little less.
Update: The report out of Colorado Springs is "Two people died." I think it is totally wrong to group the killer with his victims. Out of respect to the innocent it should be "One person died." Or "One victim died. Killer also dead."
