National Victim Rights Advocate | Member, U.S. Congressional Crime Survivors and Justice Caucus Advisory Committee | Governor's Courage Award
While mass shootings account for a relatively small percentage of overall gun violence in America, they dominate media coverage of gun violence, according to a new report released by the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI) and the Institute for the Quantitative Study of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (QSIDE). The report, “News Media Coverage of Gun Violence: A Systematic Review,” documents the findings of a systematic analysis of peer-reviewed academic research—published since the year 2000—that focused on media representations of gun violence in the United States. The findings point to several factors associated with increased media coverage of gun violence, including when women and/or children are involved; when the shooting takes place in a school, religious site, or government building; and when the perpetrator is young, ideologically driven, or shows signs of severe mental illness. The analysis also found that race plays a significant role in how the media depicts gun violence, largely failing to portray perpetrators and victims of color with the same humanity that is afforded to white perpetrators and victims.
