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Publication Request FormIn the end, everyone connected with an assignment has a stake and a role in understanding the normal effects of working in dangerous conditions.
“There will be days when you won’t know how to sift things out – your relationships at home with family, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends,” says Alissa Rubin. “It takes you, and you have to give it everything that you have got. Be prepared for the loss that may come with that. It will take a while to recover afterwards.”
Everyone also has a stake in a positive outcome that can preserve relationships at home while also keeping top-notch journalists serving readers, viewers and listeners through tumultuous world events. Journalists can improve their chances of achieving those goals by taking responsibility for the health of those who practice the craft and by engaging each other in more conversations as happened during the retreat.
Reporter Darrin Mortenson sums it this way: “There will be successes and there will be failures. I will always wonder about some things. I will always feel guilty about some things ... It is really helpful to me to see that everyone here can go through that and still feel as passionate about their work and still come back to the same fundamentals, the same reasons why they still want to do this work and put themselves at risk.”
Sharon Schmickle
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Sharon Schmickle is a reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She has covered conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, the aftermath of the tsunami in South Asia, and school shootings in Red Lake and Rocori high schools in Minnesota.
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