Journalism’s approach to gun violence has continued to fall short, with mindlessly written routine stories that see shootings as a “one-size-fits-all” issue. This failure to apply a nuanced hand dehumanizes victims, as if their death by bullet is inevitable rather than a symptom of an ever-growing national crisis.

Amidst the largest spike in gun violence ever in the United States, it’s increasingly important that we address journalism’s failures and set a new path forward to put an end to the rote gun violence coverage that perpetuates our numbness to this violence.

To address this issue, we set out with one ambitious goal: unite American media to create a commitment that outlines new practices for gun violence journalism.

If we can bring together journalists to create a new standard for gun violence journalism, we can impact the American gun violence epidemic – and inspire long overdue change.

To chart a new path forward for gun violence journalism, we gathered the most influential institutions in American media for the Gun Violence News Summit. Representing the likes of The New York Times and The Washington Post, journalists took responsibility for the failures of gun violence journalism and discussed how to shift the paradigm towards more responsible coverage.

Panelists debated on several topics regarding racism, sensationalism and national vs. local gun coverage, pulling out practical solutions that newsrooms can implement. Further participants from the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and more asked panelists questions and offered additional solutions.

From this discussion, the panelists created the Gun Violence Coverage Commitment, an unprecedented agreement outlining the new standard for gun violence reporting.

We got our Commitment into the hands of hundreds of newspapers nationwide. For the first time, an entire industry of competitors united to commit to real change, together.

The Inevitable News set out the reshape how all future gun violence press is written.

To do this, we targeted the biggest names in American journalism, and the industry at large, with The Inevitable News.

This paper was designed to highlight the flaws of the current approach to coverage and served as an invitation to the Gun Violence News Summit, where the thought leaders of journalism created new guidelines for all gun coverage in the future.

As thought leaders, their alignment on these guidelines enacted a paradigm shift for the entire journalism industry, fundamentally altering all future gun violence press. By influencing the biggest influencers in American media, we did more than get press. We reshaped the press itself.

To launch the Gun Violence News Summit, the Columbia Journalism Review published an article that outlined the flaws in media’s approach to gun violence. They extended an invitation to thousands of journalists to join us to help rethink how the story of gun violence is told.

The virtual summit occurred on April 6th, 2021, with panelists from some of the most respected publications in the U.S. Hundreds of additional attendees from other publications participated, asking the panel questions and interacting with stimuli.

The conversations at the summit led to the Gun Violence Coverage Commitment. The Commitment was published online on April 27 and put in the hands of hundreds of media outlets across the US.

By targeting journalists, the influence of the Gun Violence Coverage Commitment does not cease. It will continue to widen its reach and change the narratives of gun violence as journalists enact its principles.

The Gun Violence News Summit exceeded expectations. All the journalists we targeted, representing 8 major publications, took part in the summit. Over 200 journalists from over 100 publications tuned in to the virtual live event.

The Gun Violence Coverage Commitment was put into the hands of hundreds of newspapers. The Columbia Journalism Review’s publication of the Commitment was seen by more than 100K people and is estimated to have impacted 30k journalists.

The Gun Violence News Summit and resulting agreement was picked up by the likes of CNN, NPR, and 7 major media outlets, with a reach exceeding 10 million people.

American media’s adoption of the Gun Violence Coverage Commitment will help usher in a new era for gun violence reporting, forever altering the way Americans discuss gun violence and opening up the potential for future gun policy reform.