Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

A young woman, with her stunning eyes wide open, dies on the pavement, taking her last breath and muttering, “I am burning.” Depictions of graphic, bloody, and often senseless street violence hardly serve a constructive purpose as they are brought into our living rooms each evening. But the image of Neda Agha-Soltan dying in a street in Tehran presents something radically different: visual evidence of the passing of a significant moment in Iran’s tumultuous history. More »

Last month in Bonn, Germany, news media, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, politicians, artists, entrepreneurs and scientists from all over the world came together to discuss conflict in a multimedia age. The Dart Center organized panels on "The Trauma Factor: The Missing Ingredient in Conflict Journalism" and "Surviving Kidnap"; You now can download or listen online to the audio. More »

In Baghdad, Chancellor Keesling, a 25-year-old soldier from Indianapolis, shot and killed himself. In Tehran, Neda Agha Soltan, a 26-year-old student, was shot and killed as she watched a peaceful protest.

Two very different deaths, two very different news stories, but both required context to express or arouse anything but pain and loss. More »

The 1972 photograph by Nick Ut of children being napalmed in Vietnam, an iconic image that did much to focus the world on the war’s horror, was almost not published because it showed a traumatized, naked Vietnamese girl from the front. More »

Here at the Dart Center we focus on coverage of violence and its aftermath. Usually that means better understanding the role of emotional injury in the lives of individuals or communities.

But sometimes the story is exactly the opposite: What happens when individuals and communities, whose lives have been thwarted and voices diminished by trauma and fear, find creative ways to assert their rights and aspirations? More »

"Why am I doing this? Because I think it's incredibly important for you and for the audience to hear this story." Documentary photographer Mimi Chakarova said this of the risks and challenges entailed by her latest project on Iraqi rape victims. But the same could have been said by either of her fellow panelists as they talked about "Covering Invisible Populations" at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference on Saturday. More »

I just came out of my first session at the 2009 Investigative Reporters and Editors Conference: a discussion of new frontiers and strategies in mapping. For the next few days, I along with many others from the Dart network will be attending panels and talking to some of the world's best investigative reporters, editors, producers and news directors. More »

Stan Strick, former executive editor at The Daily Herald in Everett, Wash., and a strong supporter of innovative journalism focused on community reaction to trauma and violence, died June 4 from complications related to cancer treatment. More »

The Dart Center is looking for a part-time employee to support the website and other programs at our New York City headquarters at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The application deadline is June 12th; the start date is June 17th. More »

I have spent the last two days listening to debates and conversations at the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum on this year’s theme: “Conflict Prevention in the Multimedia Age.” The conference has brought together constituencies who don’t often talk to one another — working journalists and NGOs and educators dedicated to developing media in post-conflict regions and emerging democracies. More »