Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
Examining disparities in harmful reporting on community firearm violence in Philadelphia television news reports
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
Examining disparities in harmful reporting on community firearm violence in Philadelphia television news reports
Do you wish to request the book?
Examining disparities in harmful reporting on community firearm violence in Philadelphia television news reports
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
Examining disparities in harmful reporting on community firearm violence in Philadelphia television news reports
2026
Overview
Background
News coverage of community firearm violence (CFV) can cause multilevel harm. We aimed to quantify the frequency and severity of harmful CFV news content and examine how victim, shooting event, and place-based characteristics relate to harmful CFV reporting.
Methods
We performed a quantitative media content analysis of a random sample of CFV clips aired on Philadelphia local television news in 2021 using a novel codebook. We matched clips to shooting victims in the Philadelphia Police Department dataset and used shooting event location to obtain place-based characteristics from American Community Survey data. Generalized structural equation models evaluated associations between victim demographics, shooting event, and place-based characteristics (Group I), news coverage characteristics (Group II), and either composite harmful CFV reporting scores or specific harmful reporting elements determined by a prior modified Delphi process (Group III).
Results
Among 394 individuals covered in 303 clips, the mean (SD) individual-level harmful CFV reporting score was 15.2 (4.38) out of 29. Episodic framing (i.e. reporting lacking systematic context) (93.9%) was the most common harmful content element and perpetrator mugshot (4.8%) was least common element. Graphic and/or explicit content was present in 30.3% of clips. Individuals having more than one clip and longer total focus time had higher harmful reporting scores, while individuals involved in fatal shootings, having longer total clip length, and having a follow-up story had lower scores. Black, adult, victims in non-fatal shootings and people shot in areas with a higher proportion of Black residents were more likely to have news coverage containing graphic and/or explicit content.
Conclusions
Harmful CFV reporting is pervasive, and the severity of harm is associated with news coverage characteristics. Disparities in specific harmful CFV content elements may further exacerbate existing health inequities. Journalists should modify CFV reporting practices to minimize harm.
Publisher
BioMed Central,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
Subject
