Poynter Q&A on Las Vegas & Columbine
The Poynter Institute is the leading journalistic think tank. After the Las Vegas shooting, a Poynter professor asked me to do an in-depth Q&A for their site about covering trauma, Columbine, and reporting in general.
They titled it: "After Las Vegas shooting, a Columbine expert offers heartfelt advice about the why of it all."
The professor opened with a really generous intro:
If I made a list of books that all journalists should read, Columbine by Dave Cullen would be near the top. Cullen was at the Colorado high school on the day of the shooting, and he has covered the aftermath for more than 15 years. That experience has lent him a special type of insight on crimes of mass murder, the people who commit them, the folks who investigate them, and the journalists who cover it all.
Earlier, Professor Roy Peter Clark, had initiated the conversation by citing me in his insightful Poynter piece, The Journalism of Why: How we struggle to answer the hardest question. Read it.
The Q&A also briefly touches on my upcoming gay soldiers book from HarperCollins.
