In-depth reporting on school shootings
Two audience comments about NPR's journalism in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting gave us insight into NPR's unique role.
When mass shootings happen, the collective media ecosystem kicks into high gear. Teams of journalists descend on the scene, asking and answering the fundamental questions: Who, what, when, where, and how. The why comes later, in bits and pieces. And after that comes the stories that offer deeper meaning.
NPR often leans on its network of member stations and The Associated Press to nail down the breaking news. In the days and weeks, and even months and years that follow, NPR's stable of national correspondents and beat reporters go deep into covering many more issues.
In our first letter today, an NPR audience member criticized a story originally published in 2019 from Health Correspondent Rhitu Chatterjee, whose reporting focuses on mental health. For her story, Chatterjee looked at studies and talked to experts who are tracing the pathway to violence that many school shooters follow.
The audience member was concerned about how the story examined mental illness as a
