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The US media should rethink coverage of firearm violence

Nature Human Behaviour volume 9, pages 234–236 (2025)Cite this article

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In 2023, four US news media outlets gave disproportionately high coverage to rare homicidal events perpetrated by strangers, including mass and school shootings, yet covered disproportionately few of the more common types of firearm violence, such as domestic violence. We call for responsible media coverage of firearm incidents to realign reporting to reality.

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Fig. 1: Actual versus news-media-reported frequency of firearm incidents in 2023.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Michelle Degli Esposti, Zainab Hans.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention (IFIP), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Michelle Degli Esposti, Zainab Hans, Elyse Thulin, Esther L. Hibbs & Rebeccah L. Sokol

  2. Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Michelle Degli Esposti

  3. School of Social Work, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Rebeccah L. Sokol

Authors
  1. Michelle Degli Esposti
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  2. Zainab Hans
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  3. Elyse Thulin
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  4. Esther L. Hibbs
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  5. Rebeccah L. Sokol
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michelle Degli Esposti.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Degli Esposti, M., Hans, Z., Thulin, E. et al. The US media should rethink coverage of firearm violence. Nat Hum Behav 9, 234–236 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-02095-0

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