This a sad time to remind that the contagion effect (which I've long warned about re mass shootings) is very well established for suicides, especially celebrity suicides. Use caution in your coverage. reportingonsuicide.org
I've danced around whether to say this, but here goes: What if the recent cluster of celebrity suicides is evidence of the suicide contagion effect?
It's an important question to ask, even if it can't be answered at the moment, as that requires evidence that takes a while to find and often can only be showed in the aggregate.
But it raises the q of why media acknowledge the dangers of reporting suicides — as the NYT evidently does in its cautious framing here — but on mass shootings, still pretend it's either unclear that the contagion effect exists or beyond their purview to change on account of it. 
The obvious answer is that the potential contagion (a form of violence that lends itself to imitation) can be made incidental to the story of a celebrity suicide, whereas for a mass shooting -- which usually is a form of suicide -- it *is* the story.
So reporters aren't wrong to reply "What do you want me to do? Just not report it?" There is an inherent conflict, and it's difficult to work through and will require a good-faith effort by media to figure out the best way to balance, as they've done with reporting suicides.
But, despite some recent glimmers of hope, we are still not yet at the point of even broad media acknowledgement that there *is* a conflict. I still see on balance dismissiveness that the contagion effect is real or is in their power or responsibility to do anything about.
For now I'll refer to my earlier thread on why I think that is:
