Embodying an ethic of empathy : journalism's intersection with victims' families, survivors, and community members impacted by the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas
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This dissertation explores the interactions that victims' families, survivors, and members of the community have with journalists after mass shootings that thrust private citizens into Two additional interviews were conducted with people who worked in a counseling capacity in Uvalde, bringing the total number of participants to 49. As a theoretical framework, I used an "ethic of empathy" (Blank-Libra, 2017, p. 13) as a lens to seek knowledge and understanding of these experiences impacting both the people experiencing the traumatic event and journalists. I also sought knowledge of how trust and relationships were built between the groups in the months after the shooting for long-term, in-depth journalism. I asked if embracing an ethic of empathy as a journalistic norm minimizes harm, and my findings show that it does. Despite some experiences that were perceived as harmful with journalists, primarily in the immediate aftermath, my findings show many journalists built trust and relationships through an ethic of empathy, care, compassion, and patience for intimate and nuanced storytelling beyond the breaking news headlines.
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Ph. D.