2017-03-23

Terror Attacks and the Quiet Counter-Terrorist Response

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

by Neil Godfrey

I was wondering why the police spokesman addressing the media about the (presumed) terrorist attack in London had chosen not to reveal the name of the attacker. A day later I read that the media had been asked not to reveal his name. Good. I hope that request is understood to apply not just for the next 48 hours but for some weeks ahead.

The Sydney Morning Herald:

London attack: Police make multiple arrests after conducting six raids

. . . .

On Thursday morning Assistant Commissioner of Police and Head of Counter-terrorism Mark Rowley revealed that police had raided six addresses and made seven arrests as part of their investigation, which covered London, Birmingham and other places.

. . . .

He asked that the media not publish the name of the attacker at a “sensitive stage of the investigation”.

Presumably (hopefully) the British are following the French media decision to refuse to publish photos and names of terrorist attackers.

From July last year in The Independent:

Normandy church attack: French media bans terrorists’ names and photos to stop ‘glorification’

and in The Telegraph around the same time:

French media to quit publishing photos and names of terrorists to stop ‘hero’ effect

The Guardian/The Observer has this headline:

Media coverage of terrorism ‘leads to further violence’

The byline reads:

Clear link claimed between reports of atrocities and follow-up attacks

Hopefully the mainstream media will resist the temptation to continue spinning out this latest London attack to generate revenue for advertisers.

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2 thoughts on “Terror Attacks and the Quiet Counter-Terrorist Response”

Paul Craig says:

2017-03-23 16:17:22 GMT+0000 at 16:17

The name has now been released.

Reply
1. Neil Godfrey says:
  
  2017-03-23 22:00:13 GMT+0000 at 22:00
  
  So I see. I wrote the post last night, went to sleep, woke up this morning to find the name released. Hopes dashed in a single night.
  
  Reply

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London attack: Police make multiple arrests after conducting six raids