Killer shouldn’t be given the publicity he wanted, Letters, Sept. 30

The media should report in a way that is commensurate with the magnitude or gravity of the events it covers, but letter writer Rudy Fernandes criticizes the Star for giving van killer Alek Minassian “the great publicity he yearned.”

In the same vein, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern didn’t pronounce the name of Brenton Tarrant, the Christchurch mass murderer, so as not give him the notoriety he craved.

Both may be well-intentioned, but are wrong. When a murder is committed, particularly if it involves multiple victims and with the underpinning of an ideology as wretched as it may be, the media must cover it without sensationalizing it, but in all its gruesome details.

Imagine how history’s lessons would be wasted if perpetrators names and actions were sanitized to avoid copycats. In the aftermath of the Second World War, there was an outpouring of information, both real and fictionalized, about both sides.

The personality of Adolf Hitler was analyzed in all its nasty details to determine how he achieved his position and power. We need to expose evil thoroughly to know how to combat it fully.