David Hogg Wants The Media To Stop Calling The Santa Fe Shooter By Name
David Hogg, the Parkland school shooting survivor who has since become an outspoken gun control advocate, is calling on the media to stop naming the name of the alleged Santa Fe school shooter, as well as other school shooters, Huffington Post is reporting.
Whenever a heinous crime such as a school shooting takes place, the media and the public want to know more about the shooter himself or herself. However, Hogg is joined by other school shooting survivors in asking for that trend to stop.
In a tweet posted Sunday afternoon, the 17-year-old called on the public and the media to stop mentioning alleged Santa Fe school shooter Dimitrios Pagourtzis — or any school shooters — by name, saying that doing so validates and glorifies these crimes.
“I don’t know the shooters [sic] name and don’t want to. If you agree, anytime you see a post with their name or face from news organizations post #NoNotoriety with one of the victim’s names. We make these sick people known worldwide for their horrifying acts, let’s stop that.”
Hogg is joined by at least one well-known journalist in calling for no more publicity for school shooters. CNN’s Anderson Cooper also stated, emphatically, that he will not report on Dimitrios Pagourtzis by name.
“The name of the alleged killer will not be said nor will his face be shown. The only thing he deserves is justice. His victims deserve far better.”
These are the victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting https://t.co/9lpIBfb721 pic.twitter.com/afTxGA7BHC
— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) May 21, 2018
To that end, Hogg suggested users on social media hashtag “NoNotoriety” whenever the subject of a school shooter comes up on social media. In fact, the movement has a website, which outlines the reasons why school shooters shouldn’t be given publicity.
“The quest for notoriety and infamy is a well known motivating factor in rampage mass killings and violent copycat crimes. In an effort to reduce future tragedies, we CHALLENGE THE MEDIA – calling for RESPONSIBLE MEDIA COVERAGE FOR THE SAKE OF PUBLIC SAFETY when reporting on individuals who commit or attempt acts of rampage mass violence thereby depriving violent like minded individuals the media celebrity and media spotlight they so crave.”
Similarly, another website also urges social media users to not use the names of school shooters. DontNameThem echoes the #NoNotoriety movement’s main line of reasoning: that providing publicity to school shooters gives shooters what they want (validation and attention) and encourages copycat crimes.
Meanwhile, the victims of the Santa Fe shooting are receiving support from victims of other school shootings. In a USA Today op-ed piece, Parkland survivor Eden Hebron promised the victims that she and other survivors “are here for you.”
