The Trace
The Trace is a single-issue nonprofit newsroom which focuses on gun violence. As an organization, it works to educate Americans on the statistics and conversation surrounding this issue.
Thousands die yearly due to gun violence, and often information pertaining to each individual incident can be sparse. The Trace works to shine light on not only large-scale statistics, but also individual people and events. It publicizes data which is not visible to the public and additionally gathers data to create new statistics.
A major facet of Trace reporting is the search for tangible solutions to the prevalence of gun violence. The use of graphics is employed to convey information in a straightforward and visual manner; often to outline potential plans.
“I was a little skeptical of this idea of a newsroom that just covered one thing, but that soon vanished,” said Beatrice Motamedi, who worked with The Trace on the Since Parkland Project, a collection of obituaries for the 1,200 children who have died by gun violence since February, 2018.
Motamedi is the executive director of Global Student Square and co-director of Newsroom by the Bay. She has developed many student-run publications and travels to teach about journalism.
“Gun violence and gun control and gun rights, all of that is an exceptionally complex topic. And it involves so many parts of American politics, American society, American culture. And I’m glad that there’s a newsroom that focuses on that and has built the expertise to really understand, you know, everything from how statistics get generated to the financing of organizations such as the NRA.”
The Trace continues to report on a topic often shrouded in chaos and uncertainty, hoping to elucidate present tragedies and prevent them going forward.