Last Updated on: 12th October 2014, 09:51 am
Um, this is dumb. Dumb and doomed to fail. A coalition of agencies that fight for the protection of prostitutes in Vancouver is sending letters to the media saying that reporters shouldn’t use Robert Pickton’s name when they talk about him during his upcoming trial so that he doesn’t get some kind of celebrity status from the coverage. Instead they should only refer to the whole thing as “the trial in the case of the missing women. This is apparently so he won’t be motivated to do it again for more hype.
Ok, first, it’s highly unlikely that people aren’t going to know who it was who killed prostitutes on his pig farm and then spread their remains throughout the farm. It isn’t likely that people are going to get confused as to who they’re talking about. It’s not exactly an everyday occurrence. So, what’s the point of not using his name? Either you get a whole publication ban, or you cover something like normal. I don’t know what they’re hoping to accomplish by just referring to Pickton as “that guy.” It’s far, far too late to prevent people from knowing who he is. I mean, look at how the courtroom was packed when they scheduled his trial. And that was just for the scheduling of his trial. People know.
And second, I doubt he’ll be getting out to be able to do this again. He’s on trial for six women’s deaths so far. I know that prostitutes’ lives may not be given the value that they should, but he’s on trial for six murders. He’ll be in for a long, long time. Plus, when he goes to jail, I doubt he’ll survive his sentence because the other prisoners will probably be out to get him. He’s done. They caught him. He’s not going to do this again. This whole not saying his name is silliness.
I hope the media doesn’t cave and they look at the letter for what it is. Ridiculous! It made me laugh that in the letter itself, they used his name several times. Way to shoot yourself in the foot. What a waste of time.