By Christopher B. Daly
The recent massacre of innocents at a school in Connecticut is bound to spur a renewal of debate over gun control. Based on President Obama’s comments on Friday, it appears likely that — finally — something might happen. If you are reporting on that issue, or just reading about it, the dialogue could be elevated if the reporting were deepened.
One place to start: the highly worthwhile site Journalist’s Resource, sponsored by the Shorenstein Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School.
Here is a page of results from a keyword search for “gun control.”
It is a start toward bringing the best of fact-based research to bear on this enormous problem.
Prof Chris Daly's Blog 
Interesting to hear a Mother Jones reporter interviewed on NPR and several other ‘mainstream’ programs, since MJ has been doing a study of U.S. killings. It would be amazing to see gun control emerge from this. One Connecticut rep is reported to be pushing that (http://www.neontommy.com/news/2012/12/dems-push-gun-control-after-connecticut-shooting).
Sadly, the general media approach (including NPR) seems too much focused on ‘victim’ stories, talking about what the kids’ and parents’ experiences were in face of the gunfire, and how to talk to your children after an awful event like this one. (By contrast, there is no coverage or comparison with the many poor, African-American districts where – as was recently found in an East Oakland District – 28 of 30 kindergartners report having a family member who was shot.)
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Interesting to hear a Mother Jones Magazine reporter interviewed on NPR and several other ‘mainstream’ programs, since MJ has been doing a study of U.S. killings. It would be amazing to see gun control emerge from this. One Connecticut rep is reported to be pushing that (http://www.neontommy.com/news/2012/12/dems-push-gun-control-after-connecticut-shooting).
Sadly, the general media approach (including NPR) seems heavily focused on ‘victim’ stories, talking about what the kids’ and parents’ experiences were in face of the gunfire, and how to talk to your children after an awful event like this one. (By contrast, there is no coverage or comparison with the many poor, African-American districts where – as was recently found in an East Oakland District – 28 of 30 kindergartners report having a family member who was shot.)
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