In Spring 2018, a team of UConn Journalism students asked four Connecticut journalists how the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting changed the way they cover gun violence and the gun control debate.
We talked with reporters Jenn Bernstein and Matthew Kauffman, editorial page editor Jacqueline Smith and columnist Susan Campbell.
Mass shootings had happened in Connecticut before Newtown. There was the Connecticut Lottery shooting in 1998 and the Hartford Distributors shooting in 2010. But the Sandy Hook school shooting was different. Twenty first graders were murdered, along with six educators. One of the teachers who died was the daughter of two local journalists.
We wanted to find out: How is the gun control debate covered in Connecticut? Does our unfortunate history color the coverage? What did journalists learn from covering the tragedy and aftermath of Sandy Hook? Plenty more mass shootings have occurred since December 14, 2012 — Orlando, Las Vegas, Parkland—to name just a few.
Listen on Soundcloud⬇️ or iTunes
https://soundcloud.com/user-709472486/behind-the-stories-how-the-sandy-hook-shooting-changed-the-way-connecticut-journalists-cover-guns
The podcast was hosted by Will Harris ’18. Interviews by Grace Gagnon ’18, Adam Hushin ’19, Laura Gelb ’18 and Mike Milius ’19.
Top image by Heather Mount via Unsplash