Detailed news reports of terrorist methods - good or bad?

[Jng1]

I've been a bit shocked by how much detail has been reported about how terrorists carried out recent attacks.So e.g.

• where they hired vans from
• exact BRAND and pics of ceramic knives used (along with the fact that they were chosen as they may not be picked up by metal detectors...)
• pictures of fake 'bomb/suicide belts'
• pics of prepared molotov coktails

Why are they doing this? I can't help feeling it somehow increases the risk of copycat attacks?
Or does it make the general public more aware (e.g. van hire companies on the alert)

What do you think?

Bad.
Scary too.

It doesn't seem wise, does it?
I'm sure they have their reasons but I can't fathom what they are.

I'd say bad.

It scares normal people and gives ideas to terrorists.

The only logic for it I could come up with was that it might make the public more vigilant.
But it still seems to plant the seed of the idea about 'how easy it would be'

My gut reaction is to say the ceramic knife thing is bad - I didn't even know they existed. If I wanted to get a knife through a metal detector then now I know how. But then again if I wanted to get a knife through a metal detector I'd do some research, and presumably this is information that is easy enough to find out. You sort of have to assume the police know that terrorists already know this stuff, that this stuff is already out there.

If the police are releasing information to the press (officially or unofficially) they are presumably happy for it to be published. I would therefore assume that the information is of little practical value to terrorists, or it is already easily discoverable by any would-be terrorist, or it is deliberately misleading (I happen to know that some of the information in the OP is misleading although I'm obviously not going to say what).

Too much information that could encourage copy cat attacks it also seems to glorify the attackers which also feeds into this. There needs to be less unnecessary information about them in the press and more information about the victims and stories of good deeds etc

Too much information that could encourage copy cat attacks

Just to repeat, some of the information is deliberately misleading. It is designed to ensure that copy cat attacks are easier to detect.