I just realized that newspapers sometimes end a person's name with 「さん」: 後藤さん不明、昨年11月に把握 首相、答弁で明かす:。And then sometimes end a person's name with 「氏」: 自民・山本一太氏、人質事件で与野党結束訴え:。 In this forum, I found this thread What does 氏 mean after a name, how is it different from さん or 様?。 However the accepted answer explains that the difference is 敬語{けいご}。I cannot imagine that the impersonality of a newspaper allows for 敬語?
- What criteria decides whether to end a name with 「氏」 or 「さん」in a newspaper?