A Florida State University student newspaper, FS View, decided not to name Myron May as the gunman outside of the school’s library last week “because tact and sensitivity outweighed the immediacy of his identification and the sensationalizing of his crimes during this time,” says editor Setareh Baig, reports JimRomenesko.com. She adds that “publishing the name of the shooter would be insensitive to our peers who were victims in this tragedy.” May wounded three people before he was shot and killed by police.
Wrote Baig: “Oftentimes, media glorifies mass shooters, and coverage becomes saturated with the shooters' names. The ‘glory’ goes to the gunmen and the victims are often forgotten. The FSView made the ethical decision to not feed into this trend of glorifying mass shooters. The excessive media coverage could potentially lead to copycat gunmen who want to receive the same notoriety and go on to commit atrocities in the name of being recognized.” FSU View is a Gannett publication, supervised by the Tallahassee Democrat.