by Abené Clayton | The Guardian
Wednesday, November 06, 2019
After a mass shooting that killed five people from lower income parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, many residents were left questioning whether media coverage would be different if the victims were white or from more affluent areas. Reporting from The Guardian points to research from BMSG on how race and gun violence appear in the news and how coverage often perpetuates harmful stereotypes.
by Brian Malte | Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Research from BMSG, supported by the Hope and Heal Fund, sheds light on the often simplistic and distorted ways that many media outlets report on gun violence. Coverage is primarily driven by public mass shootings and episodic community shootings, with too little attention paid to firearm-involved suicides and domestic violence. As Brian Malte notes in this op-ed, this unbalanced view affects how policymakers view the issue and hobbles efforts to promote prevention.
by Katherine Schaff | San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Responding to an article about a rise in homelessness in Oakland, California, BMSG’s Katherine Schaff uses this letter to the editor to expand the conversation from the problem to potential solutions, such as tenant protections and affordable housing. “We know what we need to do,” she writes. “We just need the political will to make it happen.”
by Kathleen Puri | The New York Times
Wednesday, June 05, 2019
In this letter to the editor, a registered nurse commends the Times for highlighting nurses’ voices in recent coverage. She notes that’s a rarity, referencing research from Berkeley Media Studies Group and George Washington University School of Nursing’s Center for Health Policy & Media Engagement, which found that nurses are quoted in only 2% of stories about health policy.
by Jeremy Loudenback | The Chronicle of Social Change
Friday, April 12, 2019
The overlap between domestic violence and child maltreatment is profound. However, media coverage of child welfare — the system that is charged with taking care of abused and neglected children — seldom makes this connection, according to a new study from the Berkeley Media Studies Group.
by Julie Madsen | The Daily Californian
Thursday, March 28, 2019
BMSG Head of Research Pamela Mejia attended the event and noted the key role of community-level activism in reducing violence. “But,” she told The Daily Californian, “progress can be wiped out by a (national) level action.”
Website of Ed Markey
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
The proposed legislation, which BMSG and the Public Health Institute support, would prohibit targeted marketing directed at children under 13 and require consent before companies could collect data from 13-to-15-year-olds. “Big tech companies know too much about our kids … It’s time to hold them accountable,” said bill co-sponsor Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). See additional coverage from The Drum.
by Lori Dorfman | The New York Times
Friday, February 15, 2019
In this letter to the editor, BMSG’s Lori Dorfman highlights the link between two recent book reviews for “Zucked” and “Breaking News.” “Together,” she writes, they “underline the importance of well-supported and well-executed journalism for illuminating the shenanigans behind the corporate curtains if we are to keep our democracy intact.”
by Sam Sanders and Anjuli Sastry | NPR
Thursday, February 14, 2019
A year’s worth of news coverage of events like the Parkland school shooting hasn’t turned into the attention that many young people are asking for: a spotlight on the everyday gun violence they experience in their neighborhoods. This article, which elevates the perspectives of students from Castlemont High School, features BMSG’s Pamela Mejia speaking about the importance of addressing all types of gun violence in the media — not just high profile mass shootings, which only account for about one percent of gun deaths in the United States.
by Levi Sumagaysay | East Bay Times
Thursday, January 17, 2019
An alliance of more than a dozen groups — including Color of Change, Center for Media Justice and Berkeley Media Studies Group — are making the case for an agency that would have rule-making authority to allow it to better protect data. The data-protection framework would include limiting the collection of personal data and calling for more transparent algorithms.
