Reporting on mass shootings: journalist lessons from Uvalde, Texas
MORE TIME AND CARE, TRAINING NEEDED TO COVER MASS CASUALTY EVENTS
Television reporter stand-up in front of a memorial outside Robb Elementary school in Uvalde. Photo: Lisa Krantz
By Dave Seglins
Two new studies examining media reporting on the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas offer important insight into how journalists and news companies can better protect their people when covering deadly events.
Key among the findings?
Journalists who spend more time immersed in trauma-affected communities develop better relationships of trust with sources that enrich the story-telling.
But journalists who stayed in Uvalde for longer periods say they were unprepared and many were left deeply affected psychologically.
The two studies were presented at “On Sacred Ground,” an international conference of academics and news professionals with the Journalism Education and Trauma Research Group (JETREG) held in June at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Lisa Krantz, assistant professor at the University of Montana School of Journalism, presented her Ph.D. research into “how were trust and relationships built between journalists and victims’ families, survivors, and community members in the months after the shooting?”
JETREG PRESENTATION: “Too close? That ship had sailed”: Journalists who stayed in Uvalde, Lisa Krantz Ph.D
Given the frequency of school shootings in the United States, the news media are too often seen to be “parachuting in / parachuting out” of communities devastated by mass casualties.
But the Uvalde tragedy prompted many news organizations to assign reporters to long-term coverage. The tragedy was unique for its scale. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed. In addition there were huge questions and investigations lingering over the police decision to wait 77 minutes before attempting to confront the gunman inside a school classroom.
Hundreds of journalists raced to Uvalde, Texas in May of 2022 to cover the school shooting. Photo: Lisa Krantz
Krantz interviewed 23 journalists, several of whom stayed for long-term coverage. Krantz found that those journalists developed better trust with community members, their stories were viewed as being “healing/cathartic” for some family and survivors, and that investment of time, patience, and empathy helped humanize the news media in the eyes of the townspeople.
Krantz cites a producer with ABC News who spent a whole year in Uvalde.
“Everyone always says you don't get too close. But I had no other option. I mean, that was my job. I had to get too close. And I learned who they were. And I learned that I liked them so much as people that they’re people I want to be in touch with for the rest of my life.
“Emotionally? Emotionally that ship had sailed. I was emotionally too close. I mean. Yeah. I mean, there was no getting around it.”
Krantz also documented several cases of journalists suffering PTSD resulting from the work, as well as night terrors, depression and anxiety.
Jesús Ayala, an assistant professor of journalism, California State University, Long Beach also presented findings at the JETREG conference in June.
Ayala and honours student Raya Tores surveyed and interviewed 31 journalists who spent extended periods over two years on the Uvalde story.
They documented pronounced psychological impacts among many journalists, in stages:
STAGE ONE: Days 1-7
Adrenaline, shock, sweating, rapid heart rate
STAGE TWO: Month 1-6
Crying, hypervigilance, neck pain, headaches, Tachycardia, shallow breath
STAGE THREE: 1 year
Crying, hyper vigilance, neck pain, tense shoulders, headaches, Tachycardia, shallow breath, clenching jaw, muscle twitching, digestive issues, exhaustion, brain fog
Journalism professor Jesús Ayala presented his Uvalde, Texas findings to a group of industry trauma researchers in June. Photo: Lisa Krantz
They conclude these impacts are ‘consistent with a traumatic response” and that compared with other trauma-facing “first responder” industries, media workers lack adequate training, debriefing and post-event support.
“Not preparing journalists to cover traumatic events is one of the worst industry wide failures and participants in our study reaffirmed this,” Ayala told Well-being In News.
“For 89% of our study’s participants Uvalde was the first mass shooting they covered and they overwhelmingly reported that they felt woefully unprepared to cover a mass shooting. Many said they felt ‘cheated’ or ‘let down’ by their news managers and the industry for throwing them in the deep end with no relevant trainings,” Ayala said.
“Journalists are first responders and yet we don’t get the same training as traditional first responders do. They are afforded time off and time to decompress and debrief, and journalists, on the other hand, take a quick victory lap around the newsroom and are off to the next big story.”
