We have been tracking this weekend’s gun violence as we do with news of every shooting in Philadelphia. We care deeply and empathize with everyone affected and we and work hard to prevent future gun violence.
But we do not report on individual incidents because breaking news reports often result in rampant misreporting and also because our research has demonstrated that even accurate news coverage can create multiple harms.
At the same time: We respect journalists, we know firsthand that it’s incredibly demanding work and we believe that everyone has the best of intentions. We share these resources informed by our first five years of community engagement, events and research because we want to help.
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- The Better Gun Violence Reporting Toolkit can prevent harmful news coverage and even help journalists advance the understanding of prevention.
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- The Second Trauma explains how journalists can avoid doing further harm to those already harmed by gun violence, from the survivor community perspective.
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- Trauma, harm reduction and self-care is a page where we gather resources from our friends at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma
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- These 5 Save Lives: When enacted in combination, these policies have the potential to save thousands of lives. [Center for Gun Violence Solutions]
And what not to do: 12 harmful practices to avoid when covering gun violence [From the Association of Health Care Journalists, reporting on our most recent study]