Every time a story about domestic violence, sexual violence, or domestic homicide breaks in the news, something important happens beyond the facts of the case: a narrative forms. That narrative, shaped by the words journalists choose and the people they center, can either move our communities closer to understanding and preventing violence, or discreetly reinforce the myths that allow it to continue.
In recent months, our community witnessed several devastating events covered widely across local and national media. We grieved as the nation processed the murder of Dr. Cerina Fairfax, an accomplished dentist, devoted mother, and beloved member of her community. We mourned with Shreveport after a gunman took the lives of eight children and wounded others in a domestic violence massacre. And we took in the horrifying scope of the “Global Online Rape Academy”, a network that revealed just how organized and pervasive sexual violence can become when it is left unexamined and unnamed.
In each of these moments, we watched as the stories were told. And we saw again how much the telling matters.
The Power of the Story
When a headline centers a perpetrator’s professional accomplishments instead of the violence they committed, it subtly shifts accountability away from the person who caused harm. When coverage describes an abuser as a “jilted lover” or frames a domestic homicide as a “tragedy” without naming it as an intentional act of violence, it can make the unthinkable seem inevitable. When survivors are described as having “admitted” something, or when a victim’s clothing or behavior is treated as relevant context, it subtly places blame on the people who were harmed.
None of this is usually intentional. Journalists work under tremendous pressure, often within minutes of a breaking story, drawing on language patterns that are deeply embedded in our culture. That is exactly why guidance matters, and why we felt it was time to offer some.
Introducing the Action Alliance Media Guide
We are proud to share our new Media Tips for Responsible Reporting, a free resource designed to help journalists, editors, and producers cover domestic violence, sexual violence, domestic homicide, and related gun violence in ways that are accurate, trauma-informed, and centered on survivor dignity.
The guide includes side-by-side language comparisons showing common harmful phrases alongside better alternatives, for example replacing “domestic dispute” with “domestic violence incident,” or “victim confesses” with “victim discloses. It offers domestic homicide reporting tips that center the victim’s life rather than rehabilitating the reputation of the person who caused harm. It covers sexual violence framing, including why terms like “nonconsensual sex” unjustly soften what occurred. It walks through the most common headline pitfalls with real before-and-after examples. And it offers gun violence reporting guidance that helps journalists humanize victims, contextualize data, and highlight solutions without sensationalizing the issue.
The guide also addresses image selection, walking through which visuals help readers understand the full reality of abuse and which ones, like stock photos of bruised women or smiling couple photos, can reinforce harmful myths or cause additional pain to survivors and families.
Why This Matters
Accurate, trauma-informed reporting does more than inform the public. It shapes whether survivors feel believed, whether communities recognize warning signs, and whether perpetrators are held accountable in the eyes of their peers. It can connect someone in danger to a hotline they didn’t know existed. Over time, it can genuinely shift how a community understands and responds to violence.
We created this guide because we believe journalists care deeply about getting this right. We hope Media Tips for Responsible Reporting makes that work a little easier, and that it helps the stories told across Virginia bring us all closer to a future where safety, dignity, and accountability are not the exception but the norm.
Download the Media Tips for Responsible Reporting guide here.
To connect with an expert source for your story, reach out at info@vsdvalliance.org.
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