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IBGVR monthly: The Credible Messenger Reporting Project is now underway

Tell the story of gun violence and prevention from the community perspective

The Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting is now seeking community representatives and professional journalists to join our Credible Messenger Reporting Project and tell the story of gun violence, root causes and possible solutions in Philadelphia. Stipends are available. Get more info and apply now: PCGVR.org

Situation report

Like many U.S. cities, Philadelphia has been suffering a dramatic increase in shooting victims this year-to-date; up roughly 50 percent vs. 2019. The map above, which now shows nearly 2,000 people shot during 2020, is maintained by the Office of the Controller and is included on our page of local, state and national Reporting Resources.

Research update

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University generously named IBGVR director Jim MacMillan as an author for reviewing their new study: Making the news: Victim characteristics associated with media reporting on firearm injury

Penn Medicine reported on the study: Media’s Reporting on Gun Violence Does Not Reflect Reality

The core of the research team was made up of trauma surgeons and a trauma nurse who have treated countless Philadelphia shooting victims.

The Center for Gun Violence Reporting is now collaborating on several additional research projects and we will share more information when possible.

In the news

The Marshall Project, Nonprofit Quarterly and Technically Philly all checked in with us recently.

More partnerships

We are honored to announce new partnerships with the Philadelphia Obituary Project and the Coalition of Trauma Center for Firearm Injury Prevention. We hope to announce several more partners in the coming weeks and months.

Meanwhile, IBGVR director Jim MacMillan is now serving on advisory panels supporting the Philly Obit Project and the Missouri Gun Violence Project, a two-year, statewide journalism collaboration investigating the causes and possible solutions to gun violence.

Looking ahead

We expect to add at least two members to our team in 2021, we have applied for support to add more and we just learned we will be receiving another grant to help with our general operating expenses.

We also hope to hear more about two new additions to the Philadelphia gun violence solutions reporting community soon, from The Trace and Billy Penn.

Responses to our recent 12-month Summit impact survey were light but we learned about everything from the event inspiring innovations in a local trauma bay to an interest in reconvening online if the pandemic persists.

Please use our contact form to reach out with any questions, concerns or recommendations as we prepare to step into 2021.

Today is the day

You can make a difference

The Initiative for Better Gun Violence Reporting has been created to explore the hypothesis that changing the way this issue is covered could prevent shooting incidents and save lives. We have good reason to believe this work will make a difference. Your contributions will help make future programming and research possible. Please consider offering your support today or any day:

Thank you to our supporters

The Center for Gun Violence Reporting was created with support from the Philadelphia COVID-19 Community Information Fund, thanks to the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and the Independence Public Media Foundation, which also supports the Credible Messenger Reporting Project. Founder and director Jim MacMillan launched IBGVR during his fellowship at the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri.

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