Elizabeth Atwood

Elizabeth Atwood is a former newspaper reporter and editor who worked for more than 20 years at the Baltimore Sun. After the mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper office in Annapolis, Maryland, she set out to research the violence against journalists in the United States and to search for solutions.

In Deadline: 200 Years of Violence Against Journalists in the United States, she describes the stories of 79 media workers who were killed because of their work between 1829 and 2023. She notes that the evolution of journalism changed the nature of the attacks on news workers.

In the early 19th century, assailants targeted newspaper editors whose pointed pens made personal enemies. The increased emphasis on news reporting in the mid-19th century exposed journalists to dangers in wars and crime scenes. The growth of investigative journalism in the 20th century presented new threats from criminals and corrupt politicians. Finally, the growing mistrust of the news media in the 21st century led to new threats of violence.

In the final chapter, she considers whether legal remedies, better equipment and training and public relations outreach could curtail the violence agaist journalists.

Atwood is the author of Marguerite Harrison, America's First Female Foreign Intelligence Agent (Naval Institute Press, 2020).

She is an associate professor of journalism at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. Her research focuses on the ways in which journalists contribute to social and political revolutions.