Faceless Evil

Brenton Tarrant, the man charged in relation to the Christchurch massacre. Photo / Mark Mitchell

     When the accused gunman in the New Zealand mosque attack was in court, the judge allowed video and still photos to be taken, but with one provision:

"However, while Judge Kellar granted in court photographs and filming, he ordered that his face be pixelated to preserve any fair trial rights." (From the New Zealand Herald story)

There are two ironies at work here.

A "No Notoriety" movement was started by the parents of one of the victims of the Colorado movie theater shooting.

"We are not asking to completely eliminate the name from reporting. What we are asking is for the media to take public safety into consideration when reporting on mass killers – act responsibly and voluntarily. Elevate victims, heroes and survivors.  Report only the facts without adding complimentary color to the perpetrator or their actions. Limit the perpetrator’s name to once per piece as a reference point, never in the headlines and no photo above the fold.  Repetitiveness is unnecessary, gratuitous and adds nothing to the story."

That first irony is that the judge in New Zealand is trying to protect the rights of of the accused, kind of the reverse of what the No Notoriety folks want to happen.

The other irony is that anyone who wants to see who the accused killer is can easily find his photo online, a fact he was trying to take advantage of when he opened fire live on Facebook.
    
People can also easily  find information about the No Notoriety movement.