The movement in journalism for less episodic and more thoughtful, trauma-informed gun violence coverage is growing, as are opportunities for journalists to learn how to get it right.
A recent example is a certification workshop held by the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting. The day-long training, called the “Gun Violence Prevention Reporter Certification Workshop,” explored best practices for reporting on firearm violence and prevention. Participants included 25 journalists and 15 community-based gun violence prevention experts.
The central idea is that reporting on gun violence as a public health issue can provide a better understanding of why violence happens and how to prevent it. This type of reporting is also about minimizing the harm done by sensationalized, episodic violence coverage.
In this webinar, Jim MacMillan, founder and director of The Initiative for Better Gun Violence Reporting, and Alaina Bookman, a violence prevention reporter for AL.com and a participant in the workshop, talked about the main points of the workshop, how certification aims to improve coverage of firearm violence prevention, the benefits of offering a certification, and what plans are in the works to offer the certification to more journalists.
Kaitlin Washburn is AHCJ’s health beat leader for firearm violence and trauma and a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. She was a gun violence reporter for two years in Missouri for The Kansas City Star as a Report for America corps member. Previously, Washburn was an agriculture reporter covering the omnipresent industry in California’s Central Valley for The Sun-Gazette, also as a part of RFA. Previously, Washburn had internships at the Morning Call in Pennsylvania, the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C. and The Oregonian in Portland. She spent three years as a researcher for Investigative Reporters and Editors, based at The University of Missouri.
Alaina Bookman was born and raised in Dallas and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. She has experience working as a journalist for the Houston Defender and as an archivist at the University of Texas Black Diaspora Archives. Her role as a violence prevention reporter at AL.com is supported by Report for America, a nonprofit that aids local newsrooms.
Jim MacMillan is the founder and director of the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting and the assistant director of the Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting at Temple University. He has been a fellow at the Reynolds Journalism Institute, the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma and the Knight-Wallace Fellows, as well as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and Swarthmore College. Previously, MacMillan spent 17 years at the Philadelphia Daily News and photographed the war in Iraq for The Associated Press, after which he and his team were awarded The Pulitzer Prize.
