Making the news: Victim characteristics associated with media reporting on firearm injury

Abstract

Firearm injury is a public health crisis in the United States. Selective media coverage may contribute to incomplete public understanding of firearm injury. To better understand how firearm injury is communicated to the public, we analyzed media coverage of intentional, interpersonal shootings in 3 U.S. cities. We hypothesized that multiple shootings and fatal shootings would be more likely to make the news, as would shootings affecting children, women, and white individuals. We compared police department data on shootings to media reports drawn from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) for 2017 in Philadelphia, PA, Rochester, NY, and Cincinnati, OH. GVA reports were matched to police data by shooting date, location, victim age, and gender. Matched victims were compared to unmatched using chi 2 tests for categorical variables and Kruskal Wallis tests for continuous variables. Philadelphia police reported 1216 firearm assault victims; Cincinnati police reported 407; and Rochester police reported 178. News reports covered 562 (46.2%), 222 (54.6%), and 116 (65.2%) victims, respectively. Fatal shootings were more often reported as were shootings involving multiple victims or women. Half of shooting victims did not make the news. Selective reporting likely limits awareness of the public health impact of firearm injury. Researchers and policy makers should work with journalists and editors to improve the quantity and content of reporting on firearm injury.

Firearm purchasing and firearm violence during the coronavirus pandemic in the United States: a cross-sectional study

“…Additionally, as GVA data are based on news reports and other public sources, records of firearm violence may reflect undercounts due to incomplete reporting to police and news coverage, perhaps particularly for nonfatal injuries and in recent months, as many local newspapers have lacked resources for reporting or shut down. A recent study, which focused on three cities in 2017, suggests that approximately half of shooting victims known to police were not captured in GVA that year (Kaufman et al, 2020 ). However, because the GVA database is event based, rather than victim based, it likely provides a more reliable estimate of the number of events and injuries than of specific victim characteristics, including age and gender.…”

News media coverage of extreme risk protection order policies surrounding the Parkland shooting: a mixed-methods analysis

“…Media messaging on policy solutions to firearm violence is part of an ongoing national dialogue that shapes and is shaped by public sentiment [ 9 , 10 , 14 , 35 , 36 ]. Our findings on ERPO coverage underscore past increases in the volume of media coverage about firearm violence in the aftermath of public mass shooting incidents, which function as so-called news hooks, despite accounting for a relatively small share (estimated to be less than 1%) of firearm deaths annually [ 1 , 28 ].…”

“…A public health approach to preventing gun violence is one that is evidence-informed and data-driven. Limited public understanding of the burden of firearm injury and approaches to prevention, however, may affect perceptions of or support for policy [ 9 ]. To gauge the frequency of media citations of research evidence, we noted whether articles cited any research or scientific evidence related to firearm violence, including evidence on the burden of gun violence and on the effectiveness or implementation of ERPOs.…”

“…As a primary source of information about pressing social and health problems like gun violence, the news media both reflects and shapes public discourse about these issues and potential policy solutions [ 7 – 9 ]. Past research has investigated news narratives about gun violence and gun policy, including frameworks such as “gun control” (vs “gun rights”) and “dangerous people” (vs “dangerous weapons”), in the aftermath of high-profile mass shootings [ 10 – 12 ].…”

Commentary: Reducing youth firearm violence and the associated health disparities requires enhanced surveillance and modern behavioral intervention strategies – a commentary on Bottiani et al. (2021)

“…Several data sources focused specifically on police‐involved shootings have emerged given the critical societal importance of this relatively rare cause of death. These real‐time data sources can inform rapid response, research, and advocacy, but the methods of data collection are not always transparent, and the quality is not always assured (Kaufman et al, 2020). Unifying multiple sources of data could cross‐verify each source, providing the robust information we need to inform timely intervention.…”