Best Practices Offered for Media Coverage of Mass Shootings

It didn't take for long for new guidelines on media reporting of mass shootings to become relevant. In late January, an international task force of mental health and journalism experts released a set of best practices for covering public mass shootings in the most responsible way. Less than a week later, six people were killed in the Jan. 29 Quebec City mosque attack.

What's at stake for the public in mass-shooting reporting is the risk of violence contagion, or copycat behavior. Evidence suggests that media coverage may increase or reduce contagion risk, depending on how reporting is handled. Helpful coverage can educate the public; comfort survivors, families and communities; and encourage people to seek help for themselves or others at increased risk of committing violent acts, according to the recommendations.

Harmful media coverage, by contrast, can provoke copycat incidents, further traumatize communities, increase prejudice and stigma against people with mental illness and deter them from seeking help, according to the new guidelines with input from collaborators including Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, the International Association for Suicide Prevention and The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

Best reporting practices include the following:

• Minimize reporting on the perpetrators, as others might identify with or be inspired by them.
• Avoid putting photos of the perpetrator side by side with a victim.
• Instead of reporting that a mental illness caused the shooting, note that most people who live with a mental health condition are nonviolent.
• Rather than portraying the shooter as heroic, romanticized, a victim or a tortured soul, instead present facts about the shooter and describe his or her behavior as illegal or harmful.
• Be sensitive and cautious about using visual images, rather than showing graphic images of the crime scene.
• Don't show images of the shooter with weapons or dressed in military-style clothing.

Careful reporting includes not rushing to diagnose shooters from afar or jumping to conclusions about the role, if any, of mental illness in a mass shooting, says Dr. Dan Reidenberg of SAVE, which led the best-practices effort. In terms of linking to written or video manifestos, he says, media companies should first consider whether any journalistic value or public benefit exists.

"Mass shooting have been with us for decades, and they show no signs of declining," Kelly McBride, Poynter vice president, said in a SAVE press release. "These standards will help journalists and other information providers educate the public, hold accountable those with power to change public policy and minimize the risk of contagion."