I think this is the wrong question to ask. I'd prefer to see reporters refrain from "connecting the dots". it's not a good fit for the daily/weekly news cycle.

I think this is the wrong question to ask. I'd prefer to see reporters refrain from "connecting the dots". it's not a good fit for the daily/weekly news cycle. there's a lot to discuss on this topic without "contextualizing". you can report on whether gun violence is up or down YoY, whether the percent delta is above the noise floor of the last few years, compare against trends in similar US cities, that sort of thing. once you start including facts like 1, 2, 3, or 4, you are crafting a narrative, whether it is explicit or not. it's irresponsible to include this stuff unless you are prepared to make a detailed analysis of whether these factors actually predict crime, thorough comparisons against other cities where the same facts are true, possibly some regression analysis. most journalists lack the time and capacity to do this.