A week after Malcolm Jenkins and Chris Long argued that the Inquirer’s Editorial Board “did not go far enough” in supporting the city’s district attorney against state officials seeking to usurp prosecutorial power in gun cases, two dozen faculty members at area universities and colleges have followed suit.

In a letter to the newspaper’s editor and staff that was delivered Wednesday afternoon, and shared with PhillyVoice a day earlier, the academics say the Inquirer's “recent reporting on shootings in the city” is damaging criminal justice reform efforts in the city and beyond.

“Rather than honestly reporting on gun violence and its causes and solutions, this string of stories is rife with misleading claims that risk stoking unfounded fear over criminal justice reform,” the letter read, calling out “fear-driven narratives” that were not fully investigated.

The letter – spurred on through The Justice Collaborative – calls out crime reporting that repeats narratives fed by law enforcement and foes of criminal justice reform, and suggests that the reporting did not check for empirical evidence backing the claims.

Similar letters were recently published in Boston-area media outlets.

Among the 24 academics who signed the letter to the Inquirer was Brianna Remster, an associate professor in Villanova University’s department of sociology and criminology.

She was quick to point out that the letter wasn’t written in a confrontational sense, but as a result of ongoing conversations within the academic community, most of whom are avid readers of the newspapers to which they wrote.

“The Inky has done some great reporting over the years, but lately, it’s slipped in our opinion,” she said. “How crime is portrayed in the media has been a longstanding issue. There’s been a continual conversation about what’s happening in Philly and how it’s portrayed in a widely influential newspaper.”

She questioned a lack of in-depth investigation seeking trends as opposed to quick-hit coverage, at a time when media outlets are being financially pared back, something that the letter-writers acknowledge is “so frustrating for reporters.”

That disconnect, according to Remster, has helped bolster mass incarceration and other trends that criminal justice reformers aim to reverse.

“There was an exciting interdisciplinary conversation going on for a while now, with people from fields I’d rarely interact with since we’re all in our own little silos,” she said. Media outlets “have incredibly scarce resources, but we need to find a way to balance the need to meet deadlines and demands with the need to share facts and context so readers can make up their minds for themselves.

“It’s hard to overstate the power these pieces wield at a time when we have among the highest incarceration rates in the nation, and a district attorney who’s trying really hard to try new policies. The country is watching Philadelphia. It’s an important time. We just hope they take a step back and look at the big-picture consequences we wrote about.”

Stan Wischnowski is the executive editor and senior vice president of The Inquirer, whose reporting on the issue includes a handful of stories cited by the academics.

Offering a response to PhillyVoice upon receiving the letter late Wednesday afternoon, he defended the paper's coverage.

"Like every public official, the district attorney and his policies are subject to scrutiny," he said. "While we respect the views of the local academics who signed this letter, and we welcome and appreciate all good-faith criticism of Inquirer coverage, we stand by our depth of reporting on gun violence in Philadelphia.

"Our reporters, columnists and the editorial board have been fair, accurate, and thorough in covering this critically important issue.”

The letter from the academics can be read in its entirety below: