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PSA: journalists aren’t supposed to put names in the headlines if the person isn’t a public figure. It’s not a matter of maliciously not giving credit

orson-bigdaddy-krennic

^^^as a journalist, this is something that bothers me ALL THE TIME

thalassarche

A friend of mine on Twitter explained this the other day, so to elaborate based on what she said: If the name is not instantly recognizable the way a public figure is, then putting the name in the headline isn’t going to bring about any sort of recognition or connection in the reader, and doesn’t do much to draw the reader into the story. But something like “local teen” does create a connection by tying the person into the community, and encourages the reader to learn more about what this local teen has done. The name will be in the article itself, after the headline has done its job at getting the reader to look into it.

captainsnoop-deactivated2020041

It’s worth noting too that usually, according to the Inverted Pyramid writing style used for journalism where the most important information is shared first, the person’s name is usually in the first sentence of the first paragraph.

Whenever I see someone get up at arms over a headline that says “Local Teen” and the first comment is “SAY THEIR NAME” I’m always like “hey, thanks for telling every journalist present that you don’t read articles and just skim headlines.” Really makes us feel appreciated.

zandorv

I think this Onion headline illustrates the point pretty well

cazort

I also want to add to this, that when the person in question has committed an attention-getting crime, publishing and emphasizing the person’s name can actually incentivize more crime because people learn that crime is an effective way of getting media attention.

Best practice in journalism (unfortunately a lot of journalists and media outlets these days do not follow this) is to avoid naming the names of suspects or known perpetrators of mass murders, gang violence, or any other crimes in which there may have been an “attention” incentive, such as crimes in which the perpetrator had a manifesto or was trying to argue for a specific point.

An exception would be if you deem the perpetrator’s cause to be good and want to advance it, because naming the person does exactly that. An example of this would be Tetsuya Yamagami killing Shinzo Abe as a way of exposing his massive corruption involving the Unification Church.

Media and journalists are not neutral observers. They define the narrative and they make a lot of subjective judgment calls of what information to share and what not to share, and it’s based on value judgments that affect what happens in society. Choosing when to name someone is one of these calls. The best journalism is that that takes responsibility for these judgment calls, such as if a newspaper publishes a disclaimer explaining why they are withholding names of certain individuals. This makes their stance clear and also educates the public on best practices.

antiqueanimals

Illustrated Sketches of Natural History: Consisting of Descriptions and Engravings of Animals. Second Series. 1864.

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doggosource

[time]

I was so unimaginably nervous, anxious, & excited for what you could possibly want to talk about. In the weeks after we did finally talk, I committed your texts to my hippocampus & relished over every word you old-person-typed. Every now & then I still open those ancient phone backups just to appreciate how much we’ve grown together.

That day feels like a lifetime ago, & I hope that every lifetime to come is spent with you, too. I feel so blessed just to know you, just to have our lives converge in a microcosm I adore & of which I am eager to explore more.

#w