Police and crime reporting

Opinion | Better relationships with cops won’t help journalists cover crime

Police coverage is broken. Old ideas aren’t the answer. Newsrooms that take a change-management approach see reforms that stick

February 6, 2024

Local newsrooms want to stop sensationalizing crime, but it’s hard

Here are the common barriers they face and how journalists surmount them.

April 11, 2023

‘Black Girl Missing’ dramatizes the toll of missing white woman syndrome

The new Lifetime movie focuses on a Black mother begging local media to cover her daughter’s disappearance

March 6, 2023

What to know about the claim that Tyre Nichols was ‘reckless driving’

The police chief said the investigation so far, including a review of surveillance camera footage, has revealed no evidence of such.

February 2, 2023

Opinion | Take special care with coverage of police violence and protests

Journalists must make careful decisions about how to accurately and respectfully document events while also mitigating harm.

January 30, 2023

Will the death of Tyre Nichols spark police reform?

Plus, almost eight in 10 Americans say there is a need for some police reforms, the WHO will decide if the pandemic is over today, and more.

January 30, 2023

Essential self-care for journalists covering the death of Tyre Nichols

We conducted more than 30 workshops last year about managing journalism stress and trauma. Here is some advice for what is ahead.

January 27, 2023

Video of Memphis police’s ‘excessive force’ against Tyre Nichols is coming. What should news outlets show?

The video will certainly be graphic. Journalists should be prepared to explain why they chose to show or withhold it.

January 26, 2023

How police treatment of journalists at protests has shifted from cohabitation to animosity

Journalists have moved from observers to targets in recent years, opening a dark, new chapter for press freedom in the United States.

June 14, 2022

‘They keep threatening to arrest us.’ The obstacles facing local news in Uvalde

San Antonio Express-News editor Nora López talks about her newsroom's struggle against authorities to tell the stories of Uvalde

June 10, 2022

Amaris Castillo

Gannett launches a network-wide push to rework its crime coverage

Fewer mugshots, additional context and moving beyond police narratives are just some of the changes its newsrooms are making

August 12, 2021

14 local news organizations were recognized with Pulitzer nods this year

Social justice and policing dominated in a year when COVID-19 decimated local newsrooms

June 11, 2021

Harrison Mantas

This podcast uses once-secret police records to examine officer misconduct

NPR is collaborating with member station KQED in California to investigate police accountability

May 20, 2021

A new local true crime podcast dives into the story — and the people who tell them

The first season of Lee Enterprises' new podcast centers on the Tulsa World’s reporting on the Oklahoma Girl Scout murders

January 24, 2021

2 things newsrooms everywhere should do to cover the cops and the community

There are two very important things newsrooms should do in every community to document the…

April 29, 2015

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