The media has done this with races for a while now, i.e. declining to name perps as Black.

Yes, I've noticed this in the reporting of recent incidents where Asian people in the US have reported being assaulted or harassed supposedly for being associated with "the Chinese virus." The press routinely highlights the race/ethnicity, national origin, current legal residence and immigration status of the victims in these cases. But it never mentions any of these details about the assailants if they are black. Coz that would go against the party line that says black people can't be racist, and would draw attention to the dirty little secret of profound anti-Asian animus amongst many American blacks. Also, coz by not mentioning the race of the assailants, the media seems to hope that the audience will assume they're white - which goes along with and furthers the popular narrative that only white people can be racist.

The same thing happened when Rick Moranis was assaulted in NYC a few months ago. All the media accounts said he was assaulted out of the blue by just "a man" when the security camera footage clearly showed an assailant who could be described in far greater detail - man, 30s, black skin, full head of black hair, medium build and height, wearing a dark pullover hoodie saying "I Heart NY" on the front, black pants, a backpack and a black lower-face mask covering his chin and mouth. Withholding identifying details in this case meant the press was acting directly against public safety, as it turned out this assault wasn't a one-off: the same man had a long rap sheet and had committed a string of unprovoked assaults on other people - including women - in the same neighborhood.