Building better practices for covering gun violence
This article is part of RJI Impact, a series documenting how RJI projects are making a real difference for newsrooms and audiences all over the country. It was originally published in the Winter 2026 edition of RJI Insight, RJI’s biannual print magazine.
In 2019, Jim MacMillan started his Reynolds Journalism Institute fellowship with a hunch: that the common ways journalists reported on gun violence weren’t helping the public understand the crisis and were often causing further harm to gun violence survivors and their communities.
A former photojournalist for outlets including the Associated Press, The Boston Globe, and Philadelphia Daily News, MacMillan also knew many in the news industry were ready to take a new approach.
As an RJI fellow, MacMillan convened the Better Gun Violence Reporting Summit at WHYY Public Media in Philadelphia and launched what would become a leading voice in the field: the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting (PCGVR). The center has been a catalyst in helping reporters and editors adopt trauma-aware, public health-informed reporting practices and build trusted relationships with the communities most affected by gun violence.
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