The following resource is intended to support advocates in developing local campaigns and communication strategies to: share information about different options available to reduce harm from guns; inspire needed community conversations; and empower survivors.
In this commentary for CalMatters, Hope and Heal Fund Director Brian Malte recommends four steps we can take to achieve comprehensive and dramatic reductions in gun violence and firearm suicide over the next 5 years. His suggestions include changing the media narrative on violence, which BMSG research has shown provides a distorted view of what types of violence are the most common, who is the most affected, and how communities of color are portrayed. Malte’s article also appeared in the San Francisco Examiner and Marin Independent Journal.
A key component of stopping gun violence and firearm suicide in America is understanding the complete picture of these public health crises. Do journalists cover these issues thoroughly and effectively? How has coverage changed in recent years since nationwide protests against police brutality and structural racism have put some types of gun violence under more intense scrutiny? Recent research from BMSG, part of a larger project with our partners at the Hope and Heal Fund, sheds light on the coverage and how advocates can continue to shift the narrative on violence.
As gun violence rises and journalists pledge to cover the issue more effectively, BMSG researchers wanted to know how news about gun violence and firearm suicide has changed in recent years. Has the volume of coverage in California outlets increased or decreased? What types of violence receive the most attention? Is prevention present? A forthcoming BMSG news analysis, conducted in collaboration with our partners at the Hope and Heal Fund, will answer these and other questions about gun violence in the news. To learn more and to hear directly from our researchers, register for this Oct. 7 webinar.
Research from BMSG, supported by the Hope and Heal Fund, sheds light on the often simplistic and distorted ways that many media outlets report on gun violence. Coverage is primarily driven by public mass shootings and episodic community shootings, with too little attention paid to firearm-involved suicides and domestic violence. As Brian Malte notes in this op-ed, this unbalanced view affects how policymakers view the issue and hobbles efforts to promote prevention.
BMSG’s Pamela Mejia was among several presenters at this year’s annual meeting of the American Public Health Association who addressed gun violence prevention. Mejia noted that the way the media report on the issue — with a focus on firearm injuries as isolated events — can limit broader action by absolving governments and institutions of accountability.
In this op-ed for the Inquirer, a public health researcher and Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who now directs the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting make the case for a different approach to gun violence prevention — and a strong role for journalists in covering solutions. Citing research from BMSG, they argue that journalists should “ask questions about the context of gun violence, cultivate sources beyond police and prosecutors, and expand coverage to include other sectors, such as policy, education, health care, and business.”
