How to Responsibly Cover Mass Shootings
Local news and even major news networks violate most of these rules just so they could get more clicks and revenue instead of covering such sensitive topics with care and responsibility.
Recommendations Regarding Media Coverage of Mass Shootings
- Focus on victims, survivors, and others who took action to end the incidents
- Do not put the perpetrator’s name in a headline
- Avoid/minimize the use of the perpetrator’s name
- Avoid/minimize the use of pictures of the perpetrator
- Do not fixate on the number of fatalities
- Avoid publicizing videos and manifestos from the perpetrator except when clearly valuable to the reporting
- Do not use names, photos, or likenesses of past perpetrators
Source: Media Coverage of Mass Killers: Content, Consequences, and Solutions by Adam Lankford, Eric Madfis.
