University News Last updated 18 April 2024
International and UK media should follow the ‘No Notoriety’ protocol following the recent knife attacks in Australia to avoid heightening the prospect of copycat acts, says a crime expert at Birmingham City University (BCU).
Six people were stabbed to death by a 40-year-old man in a shopping centre in Sydney before a 16-year-old boy injured at least four people during a knife attack in a church in a suburb of the city.
Professor Craig Jackson, who has studied mass killings for the last 15 years, said: “The media are taking a harmful approach when reporting these attacks by focusing on the identity of the perpetrators.
“The Sydney mall attack was reported in a way that focused on the increasing number of fatalities, making the attacker appear both accomplished and dangerous, which is something research shows is often likely to encourage other people to commit attacks themselves.
“Although news reporting is highly unlikely to encourage healthy viewers to commit attacks, those who have thought about undertaking such attacks may try to directly copy the attacker, because of the notoriety the reporting gives them.
“Once the identity of the attacker becomes known, their photographs are often shown repeatedly - and again this encourages future would-be attackers.”
Professor Jackson added: “Some reliable research shows that changing how the media report rampage killings does indeed reduce the number of copycat and fame-seeking attacks happening in the aftermath.
“In the immediacy of attacks, rolling news continually follows a predictable pattern of trying to ascertain if the attacker was a religious terrorist or if they had mental health problems, but the reality is often more complex.
“Repeated live footage of buildings being evacuated, confused and scared witnesses, and uniformed services making speculative press conferences all serve to give would-be attackers a rewarding impression of how powerful and influential such attackers are reported.”
Following a number of similar mass-stabbings in South Korea last year, Professor Jackson found there was little evidence that recorded mental illness was the root cause of the attacks.
"Most mass killings, whatever weapons are used, can be traced back to the attackers being extremely angry at society in general, or specific institutions, feeling they are the victims, being disgruntled, bearing grudges, and even having extremely disordered personalities,” he said.
“Any mental health issues were secondary symptoms.
“The level of planning and pre-meditation involved in most mass killings shows the attackers do indeed know what they are doing and that they are legally responsible.
“Responsible reporting is a vital tool to be used in the reduction of this public safety problem.”