We’re Sarah Hesse and Jacob Bogage, students at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. We’re studying journalistic coverage of mass shootings as part of a class about reporting on traumatic events.
For our research, we’ve interviewed journalists who have covered these events as well as survivors or family members of victims of mass shootings. We’ve also spent four months studying journalistic habits in the aftermath of mass shootings or active shooter scenarios.
Here, you’ll find our conclusions about what the media does well and does poorly to cover these events and the best practices to which journalists should adhere to provide coverage that finds the full truth while be respectful of victims and communities.
Have any questions?
Contact our professor who oversaw our research. Katherine Reed (reedkath@missouri.edu) is an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, health and public safety editor at the Columbia Missourian newspaper and a senior fellow at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma Research.
Mass Shooting Journalism 