An email sent to a news outlet in NZ re: Canadian Shooter

[2021x]

I sent this email to a news outlet in NZ when reporting the recent Canadian shooter.

I would be keen to know how many people feel that I am being unreasonable.

I’m writing to seek clarification on Stuff’s editorial guidelines regarding the use of female pronouns to describe a male assailant.

I became confused when reading this article: https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360937660/canada-shooting-who-was-shooter-suspect-jesse-van-rootselaar. The use of “her” pronouns, alongside a photo of a male person and references to the shooter’s mother, made it difficult to understand who the “her” in those paragraphs was referring to. Female school shooters are extremely rare and therefore, the pronoun choice stood out and created uncertainty about the factual details of the case.

My understanding is that news reporting should prioritise clarity and factual accuracy- especially for such a tragic event. Using female pronouns to describe someone who is male may suggest an ideological or political framing, which raises concerns for me about impartiality in reporting at Stuff.

I’m aware that raising questions about pronoun usage can sometimes lead to assumptions about a person’s views, resulting in my concerns being dismissed as bigoted rather than considered on their merits. My intention is not to be inflammatory, but to understand why a political stance appears to have been taken in a situation where a neutral approach—such as using the individual’s name or simply “the shooter”—could have avoided confusion and not detracted from the article.

I would appreciate clarification on the editorial reasoning behind this choice.

We know males are more violent and anti-social at the extreme ends, but with school shooters I am interested in the significance of why they pre-dominatly caucasian?

They aren't. Some outlets have used recent photos. They are exactly as you would imagine them to be.

Could you post them. I saw that there were some, but then someone else said it was a different TGW with the same name.

There’s a lot of information on the shooter and the shooting on CBC that should help answer some of your questions about mental health. Looks like this kid had previous mental health and weapons issues, even while identifying as male. And was dragged all over the country (from Newfoundland to BC) due to a custody issue, meaning good luck on getting continuity of care from a doctor or therapist. I doubt they were taking hormones simply due to the fact that you’d need a doctor to prescribe and monitor, so I can’t see how a teen in this situation would have had access to that.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/shooter-tumbler-ridge-what-we-know-teenage-suspect-9.7085858

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/school-shooting-ten-dead-british-columbia-9.7084222

Data is important. This is not a crime committed by a woman and should not be reported as such. It is a crime reported by a trans identified MALE. This data inaccuracy has consequences and women should not be detrimentally affected. Same for medical data collection. I would say happy to help but actually I am bored helping 'ignorant' people on this matter. But Data accuracy is important so I will continue to assist politely.

Yes, better mental health and social services are really important, together with acknowledgement and understanding of the serious comorbidities that are very common with gender disphoria. These are currently ignored in favour of acceptance and the dogma that "transitioning" automatically solves everything. These mental health problems need to be taken seriously, not ignored. This was a terrible tragedy. It isn't hate to wonder if it could have been prevented given the above.

You're not unreasonable but hypocritical. The purpose of your message was to express your disagreement with their choice of the use of 'her' on the basis of your ideology.

It wasn't written because you were concerned the article was confusing.

Your message was really meant to criticise the author.

I just want people to tell the truth. Can we stop pretending (lying about) ignorance of biological fact? Especially in cases of crime? I don't honestly give a shit about respecting this person's preferred pronouns. He was a violent criminal who murdered people, so let's tell the truth that he was male who identified as a transwoman. That's potentially valuable information that should be gathered. Yes, it does matter, because statistics matter. They're used (and too often twisted and tweaked) to make important decisions and arguments to sway public opinion. We need to keep the data pure, not agonise over which truths to tell for fear of hurting someone's feelings.

School shooters in the US reflect the ethnicity of the country. There are a similar percentage of school shooters from all ethnicities.

Not that being critical is a bad thing, but I am questioning whyit is the editorial policy of a national news organisation to prioritises the ideology of a small group of individuals rather than to use gender neutral terms.

Statistics Canada, or any other reputable agency that gathers and analyses data on Canadian school shootings, is not going to be using news articles as sources, and you know that. You’re just using it as a soapbox to spread your opinion that trans = bad, The fact that the shooter was born male is one of many pieces of data that will be gathered. Other things include race, socie-economic status, medical history, educational history, family history, etc.

If you were truly concerned about the accuracy of data, you should be giving proportionate attention to these as well. But you’re not, because you can’t see past your transphobia.

Its interesting that you have the opinion on here that message is trans=bad. That is not the message you could have recieved from this thread. I have personally made it clear that including males in spaces that have come into existance to specifically exclude them for the safety and comfort for females makes the current manifesto of the "Trans-rights" simply unworkable for the general population.

Is that something that you would agree with?

Re:trans proaganda in NZ. At a recent event at a NZ high school, we parents were asked to say who we were and who our "young person" was. All three or four parents before me followed this formula, sheepishly. I said "My name is Mary and my daughter is Alana" with quiet emphasis. And every single parent after me followed suit.

It's a school for girls. The name of the school is [Town] Girls' High. We send our daughters there so they can be educated alongside other girls, ffs.

Everyone in NZ in teaching and other visible positions like newsreader or councillor or librarian with a twitter acount is on the woke train, but actual normal everyday people in civilian life who aren't being paid to virtue signal? Very few of us are on board with it.

Stuff is an absolute shambles of a "news" organisation. This is a hill they will die on. They ARE dying on it in fact.

I have written several such letters to Stuff - sadly, they will not care. They always use preferred pronouns.

The Press Council will not care - see this decision in the appalling case of https://www.mediacouncil.org.nz/rulings/suzanne-levy-against-nz-herald/ where male Toko (Ashley) Shane Rei Winter tortured and murdered a vulnerable young woman and was referred to as a woman by the media.

Also... wokeandwoofing nailed it.

Thats interesting. Where I work we are just ignoring it until it rears its ugly head. There is a vocal group who support "rainbow issues" but noone is paying attention to them when they make news items.

With regards to Stuff that is why I am asking for their guidelines as oppose to making a complaint. Like I said I don't object to people having an ideology, but its when it is forced on others- especially in this sneaky way- I think it is better to ask for their reaosoning rather than tell them that they are wrong. I also thought it would be good to call out the "othering" and "dismissing" behaviour that has been used by some news organisations to devalue the expereince of being female.

This person is dead but I am asking about the editorial policy of why they are using female pronouns for a male person of which many of them are still alive.

The use of the incorrect pronoun indicates to me that the culture is being forced to accept something that causes me harm.

See my previous replies.

Re school capture this was sent by Western Springs College to teachers a couple of days ago ahead of their athletics day.

The Woman’s Rights Party wrote about it here open.substack.com/pub/wrpnz/p/the-womens-rights-party-learns-that?r=1n56n&utm_medium=ios

So... fuck the girls, basically. One reason I sent my girl to a girls' school.

Be interesting to see how shit flies on the marae where sex-roles are very delineated during powhiri, mihi etc

So this has nothing to do with the news article and everything to do with your own personal opinions.

You clearly understood the article as you've explained what they meant in your email.

You're just deliberately stirring the pot because that's what you've seen many do on Mumsnet.

In this situation I want to know what the threshold is. For example if the males don't want to participate in the male catagory thats one thing, but I would want to know at what point they will take it to review. Will it be when the males dominate the sports or that females stop participating because they can't see the point.

I want to know what their plan is, to make it fair.

I wonder what you think this would change?

Except you've not said any of that in your email.