His place

Guardian:

New Zealand media put Christchurch gunman in his place with focus on victims

On Thursday, after the gunman was sentenced to an unprecedented life in jail without parole, Ardern reiterated her commitment to never speak the terrorist’s name, saying he deserved “a lifetime of complete and utter silence”.

The coverage changed tone on Thursday, when the sentence came down and the media had the opportunity to celebrate with the victims of the atrocity.

…

At RNZ, director of news Richard Sutherland says his team have “strictly” adhered to the media agreement in their coverage. “We were never going to let him use any of his court appearances as a platform for espousing his unsavoury views,” Sutherland says.

Mediaworks director of news, Sarah Bristow, is singing from the same hymn sheet. “The coverage of this case is immensely important … but that doesn’t mean we are here to be used to perpetuate hateful ideology,” Bristow said.

“We were extremely wary of the possibility Tarrant may try to use the news media and our coverage of the case to disseminate his white supremacist beliefs.”

When Ardern stopped using the gunman’s name, New Zealanders followed suit en masse. ‘He is not one of us” Ardern said, and Kiwis took her message to heart.

…

Overall says she has noticed an “an absence of public mourning” that she thinks may be deliberate too, “refusing him haunting our space”.

“That muting is quite pronounced and significant,” Overall says, of the public mood in New Zealand this week.

“And that demonstrates something the public has absorbed and is embodying and practising Jacinda’s mandate, even though the journalists are naming him, the public seems to want to continue the practice of not naming – not humanising.”

Victims, too, have adopted the Ardern practice, using words such as “loser” and “trash of society” and “nothing” and “monster” to address him, rather than his name.

…

With his act of mass atrocity, Tarrant – a loner, a misfit – sought notoriety and fame – as stated in his manifesto.