Contacts:
Sammy Caiola, co-director
Abené Clayton, co-director
https://agvr.org/contact/
A first-of-its-kind organization for journalists covering gun violence is now recruiting new members: The Association of Gun Violence Reporters.
In the spirit of other professional organizations such as the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Society of Environmental Journalists, AGVR aims to create a hub for any journalist who’s covered gun violence, whether as a full-time beat or in a breaking and general news capacity. Associate and student members are invited to participate as well.
We encourage reporters and editors to approach gun violence as a systemic problem, paying special attention to root causes such as poverty and disinvestment in education and housing.
We plan to train journalists on how to center survivor voices and perspectives in their reporting, and build relationships with the people closest to the issue, while advancing public health-informed, trauma-aware strategies for interviewing and story production.
We also help reporters stay up-to-date on the latest in gun violence legislation, court cases, litigation and research through our monthly newsletter and our social media channels.
AGVR has been incubated by the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting, which formed in 2020 to advance more empathetic, ethical and impactful reporting, and will now operate as a sibling organization.
Goals include:
- Amplifying existing resources such as PCGVR’s Better Gun Violence Reporting Toolkit
- Organizing member-exclusive meetups through our East Coast, West Coast, South and Midwest chapters
- Hosting webinars and in-person trainings around best practices
- Partnering on PCGVR’s national gun violence reporting conference in Philadelphia
- Pairing newer or younger members with gun violence reporting mentors
- Facilitating project collaborations between members across the country
- Advertising jobs and opportunities through our member-exclusive job board
- Providing members with a curated list of gun violence experts
Professional and associate membership are available now, as well as free student memberships.
Our team includes:
- Sammy Caiola, a Philadelphia-based journalist covering police accountability, sexual violence and mental health/substance use for Kensington Voice.
- Abené Clayton, a reporter in the Guardian US newspaper’s California office and currently the lead reporter on the “Guns & Lies in America” series.
- Jennifer Mascia, a senior news writer and founding staffer at The Trace.
- Alain Stephens, an investigative journalist covering gun violence, extremism, and systemic injustice.
- Kaitlin Washburn, the health beat leader for firearm violence and trauma for the Association of Health Care Journalists and an independent journalist based in Chicago.
- Paige Pfleger, who covers criminal justice for Nashville’s NPR affiliate, WPLN News.
You can also find us in person today at the Association of Health Care Journalists conference in Los Angeles and join us next month at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in New Orleans on June 20!
AGVR is funded in part by the Fund for Safer Future, and has also received support from the Center for Just Journalism, the Joyce Foundation and the Blue Shield of California Foundation.
Follow AGVR on Instagram, visit our home page at AGVR.org and become a member today.
– Sammy Caiola and Abené Clayton