Methodology

The Military & Veteran Affairs Reporting Guide was compiled from a year-long research process during which Military Veterans in Journalism gathered data from various community surveys, interviews and secondary analyses.

Military Veterans in Journalism put together its style guide by consulting with dozens of news and media professionals, as well as gathering feedback from the MVJ community on media shortcomings when reporting on the military and veteran communities. We also analyzed other newsrooms’ and journalism organizations’ guides to ensure we had a well-rounded product with a great structure. For instance, the larger, paragraph-formatted explanations in the style guide’s sections were inspired by the NAHJ Cultural Competence Guide. Our goal was to create a resource that combined a traditional style guide and a cultural competence guide. The finished product provides both important terms and context while stimulating conversation.

The Veteran Showcase was created based on community feedback as well. We sent out hundreds of surveys where people nominated accomplished military veteran journalists while also seeking feedback from partner newsrooms, such as Military Times and Task & Purpose.

The Expert Directory was created a bit differently using two methods. First, we sought out existing databases on a range of topics within this space to gather as many expert contacts as possible. After that, we sent out limited surveys to specific groups, including limited groups of MVJ members, external partner organizations, veteran service organizations, and other interconnected individuals in the military and veteran spaces.