We are always amused when liberal groups tell us how the news should be reported, and have frequently noted how our nation’s third oldest continuously published daily newspaper, The Philadelphia Inquirer, told us that they would censor the news when the news didn’t fit what they wanted to tell us.

Now comes The Journalist’s Resource, criticizing the credentialed media which do report the truth!

Research highlights need for public health approach in news reporting of gun violence

The study, published in BMC Public Health, reveals an overwhelming reliance on law enforcement narratives, missing deeper insights into the root causes and potential solutions to gun violence.

by Naseem S Miller | Tuesday, June 25, 2024

For decades, researchers have urged journalists to avoid framing gun violence solely as a crime issue and provide a broader public health context. Yet, as evidenced by the findings of a recent study of local TV news in Philadelphia, the focus on the crime angle remains very much at the forefront of gun violence coverage.

The article’s title itself is enough to tell the reader: The Journalist’s Resource is advocating that reporters present something other than the straight news, but to shade their reporting from a particular angle.

The researchers’ call for change was further underscored on June 25, when the U.S. Surgeon General declared firearm violence a public health crisis for the first time in a 40-page advisory, calling on the nation to take a public health approach to address gun violence, much like it has done before to address tobacco and car crashes.

In “Public health framing of firearm violence on local television news in Philadelphia, PA, USA: a quantitative content analysis,” published in BMC Public Health in May 2024, researchers analyzed 192 TV news clips aired on four local news stations between January and June 2021 and found that 84% contained at least one element that could be harmful to communities, audiences and gun violence survivors. Some of those elements are visuals of the crime scene, not following up on the story, naming the treating hospital and the relationship between the injured person and the shooter.

There’s kind of a Duhhh element to this. January through June of 2021? Philly had seen 499 total homicides in 2020, just one short of the official record of 500 during the crack cocaine wars of 1990, and there is good reason to believe that the Philadelphia Police actually reduced the number from an initially reported 502.

Then, the first six months of 2021 started out with a bang, quite literally, as by June 25, 2021, there had been 265 officially reported homicides, more than the entire year’s totals in 2013 and 2014, as that year was well on its way to obliterating the record with 562 total killings. Of course the media are going to be full of stories about shootings and homicides, when the city was seeing 1.506 murders every single day!

“(V)isuals of the crime scene(s)”? Television is a visual medium, and images are hugely important to that medium. Television stations would send an on-camera reporter and his crew to the murder scenes, because that’s what’s important in television news.

“(N)aming the treating hospital”? How is that “harmful to communities, audiences and gun violence survivors,” unless the article contends that doing so simply gives the shooters still on the loose knowledge of where to wait for their intended victim to be released.

Philadelphia Badlands. Photo via Philadelphia Inquirer Click to enlarge.

“(T)he relationship between the injured person and the shooter”? OK, there we get what their real concern is! The great majority of these cases were when members of one gang, oops, sorry one “clique of young men”^[1]We were reliably informed by The Philadelphia Inquirer that there are no gangs in the city, just “cliques of young men affiliated with certain neighborhoods and families,” who sometimes … Continue reading shot members of another “clique of young men,” and reporting this might lead viewers to believe that there was a problem with gangs, oops, sorry again, “cliques of young men” hanging around the Philadelphia Badlands.

Meanwhile, public health elements such as root causes of gun violence, solutions and sources other than law enforcement officials were missing from most news clips.

In a way, this criticism is legitimate. Television news does not do follow-up well, and that’s the nature of the medium. This is where newspapers are supposed to shine, and the Inquirer does try, at least in cases in which the victim was an innocent one, which were far fewer in number.

Even then, the newspaper tried to portray a perhaps not-so-innocent victim as being as pure as the wind-driven snow.

“(R)oot causes of gun violence”? Televison stations don’t do in depth reporting well, and, as for newspapers? I can only speak about those I read, but if you’re looking at the Inky, you’ll find them blaming ‘systemic racism’, ‘redlining’, and every other liberal shibboleth they can, as long as bad parenting and intraracial culture aren’t mentioned.

“(S)ources other than law enforcement officials”? The police are normally the first ones on the scene, and the ones with the most information. In the go, go, go world of television news, the police are the source. Of course, to the left, the police aren’t a good source.

Previous studies have shown that when the news media covers community gun violence as a single incident in isolation, audiences are more likely to blame victims. This approach also reinforces racist stereotypes and suggests that policing is the most effective way to prevent violence, undermining public health measures that could curb gun violence, (Dr. Jessica Beard, director of research at The Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting) and her co-authors of the BMC Public Health study write.

Think about what this says. People are seeing individual reports of the news, and drawing their own conclusions, and that is something The Journalist’s Resource definitely does not want to happen. Author Naseem S Miller even tells you why: it “reinforces racist stereotypes” and support for policing, for arresting and locking up the malefactors. “(A)udiences are more likely to blame victims,” but that occurs when the victims are identified as just gang-bangers “clique members” shot by other gang-bangers “clique members.” If you can combine the killings in reporting, perhaps throwing in some truly innocent victims, perhaps in liberal-think you can get people to concentrate on what they want, taking away people’s Second Amendment rights common-sense gun control measures.

There’s much more at the original, including the article giving readers what he sees as good practice guidelines:

Trauma-informed journalism recognizes the need for journalists to better understand how trauma can affect survivors and how to avoid reporting that could cause additional harm to vulnerable people and those who have experienced trauma. The practice also helps journalists to protect their own mental health.

When covering firearm violence, trauma-informed reporting would involve engaging with survivors using trauma-informed principles, including giving them control over the narrative of their injuries. It also minimizes harmful elements such as graphic visuals.

“This type of reporting could humanize firearm-injured people and build empathy in audiences, deconstructing the existing racialized news narratives around firearm violence in cities,” the authors write.

They also recommend:

• Public health practitioners partner with firearm violence survivors to offer alternative perspectives to journalists reporting on firearm violence.
• Journalists seek training in trauma-informed practices and solutions journalism.
• Newsrooms adopt a public health approach to reporting on firearm violence, provide resources to audiences and use the public health framing.

To help journalists and newsrooms meet these recommendations, the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting and Frameworks Institute created a free gun violence reporting toolkit, which provides more information on trauma-informed reporting, the drivers of gun violence, and tips for more complete news coverage of gun violence.

There’s a lot of coding in all of that, but, put into practice it would mean slowing down reporting, in ways the author would prefer would mute it. “(T)rauma-informed reporting would involve engaging with survivors using trauma-informed principles, including giving them control over the narrative of their injuries” entails delaying the news, as reporters can hardly be prompt if that means following wounded victims to the hospital and being able to get the information they wish to disclose, or keep private, all at a time in which victims may be unable to communicate clearly and soberly.

The left — and much of the credentialed media are on the political left — want to control what you know, as a method of influencing what you think. We’ve already seen how newspapers adhere to silly things like the McClatchy Mugshot Policy and how news articles refer to things they wish to push as real. The Journalist’s Resource is simply urging more of the same.

No, we don’t need journolists^[2]The spelling ‘journolist’ or ‘journolism’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their … Continue reading massaging the news; we only need them to report it.