MVP - Mass Violence Podcast NMVVRC

For National Crime Victims’ Rights Week 2024, guest host Carter Coyle, NMVC's Public Information Director, leads a discussion with NMVC’s Associate Academic Program Director Anne Seymour, University of Utah School of Law Professor Paul Cassell, and VOCA expert Steve Derene. They explore the anniversaries and history of key Federal laws: VOCA (1984) and the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (2004), which help fund crime victim services and ensure Federal crime victims’ rights.

MVP returns for a new season as host Dan Smith is joined by the NMVC's Associate Academicc Program Director, Anne Seymour, to talk about news media coverage of mass violence incidents. The news media is an essential partner for law enforcement during an MVI, especially to disseminate immediate messages and warnings to the public quickly. But it’s important for journalists to learn about appropriate, sensitive, and victim-informed coverage of traumatic events, and to educate themselves on vicarious trauma when covering complex and disturbing topics.



Resources:

The NMVC collection of resources for Journalists includes sections about the impact of media exposure, self care, advice for editors, covering gun violence, and covering mass violence.

From: Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma
Trauma & Journalism: A Practical Guide
This thirty-one-page booklet gives guidance to journalists, editors, managers and other media professionals on working with traumatic material. It offers tips on interviewing, highlights common mistakes made in trauma reporting and suggests what individuals and media teams can do to look after themselves while working in challenging situations.
https://dartcenter.org/content/trauma-journalism-handbookOther Dart Center resources for Homicide and Mass Shooting


From: Journal of Mass Media Ethics

Listeners, not Leeches: What Virginia Tech Survivors Needed from Journalists

From: Journalism Practice:

Covering Mass Shootings: Journalists’ perceptions of coverage and factors influencing attitudes

Guest host Jeff Hartle talks with Kathryn Turman, a pioneer in enhancing and expanding victim services while working at the Department of Justice's Office of Victims of Crime and as Assistant Director of the FBI's Victim Services Division during her long career of public service. They talk about first awareness of the needs of mass violence crime victims, her experience leading the international effort to support victims' families during the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, and building a professional victim services division at the FBI. They are joined by regular host Dr. Dan Smith to talk about the study conducted by MUSC's National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center evaluating the services provided to the Flight 103 families.

Retired Aurora, Illinois Police Chief, Kristen Ziman joins MVP host Dr. Dan Smith on the Mass Violence Podcast. The two discuss the importance of training for response to a mass violence incident, her memories of an unforgettable February 2019 day in Aurora, and encouraging a culture of reporting to help prevent mass violence incidents.

MVP host Dr. Dan Smith is joined by authors of a recently published study on the prevalence of mental health issues five years after the Flint, Michigan water crisis. Guests include first author Dr. Aaron Reuben, Dr. Angela Moreland-Johnson, and Dr. Dean Kilpatrick. 

MUSC Press Release

The paper is available on JAMA Network Open: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2796540

MVP host Dr. Dan Smith is joined by Dr. Mario Gaboury, Dean of the Henry  C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven. Dr. Gaboury provides a brief history of Victims Rights and the legal system over time and they discuss the differences between criminal and civil legal remedies that may be brought forth after mass violence incidents.