By: Joe Strupp When the Tulsa (Okla.) World decided to take a hard look at the city's homicide rate, it wasn't content with just that past year or two of local murders. Or with simply presenting them as statistics.
The paper took 10 years' worth of murders ? some 507 killings ? and provided readers with in-depth stories, background information, and personal accounts of how each death affected the victim's family, the assailants, and the court system. In addition to the two-day print package, published July 13 and 14, an extensive online report provided a database of all the homicides, which can be cross-referenced by age, location and name.
A detailed map pinpoints where each death occurred, while eight video reports provide interviews with surviving family members. "We decided to take a larger period of time and do this analysis," says Nicole Marshall, a 13-year police reporter at the World who spearheaded the effort. "The feedback has been the most interesting from the victims' families." City Editor Ziva Branstetter says the project took six months and half a dozen staffers working at least part-time on it: "It was about putting a human face on an issue our readers care about."
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