It's not passive, though

On the BBC Blog today they're talking about "covering distressing news for children", and one of the techniques they name is

We use passive constructions ("Five girls have died", not "The man went in and shot five girls")

This statement may indeed be less distressing - but it's not a passive construction.

"Five girls were shot" is passive - and probably not much less distressing than "The man shot five girls."

"Five girls have died" is merely a past perfect intransitive active.

This may seem incredibly picky - but honestly: if you're going to put out guidelines which call for the use of the passive (incredible in itself!) you should know what the passive is.

And it's not "not naming the actor".