Russian Journalism and Trauma Seminar

Awareness of the psychology of covering trauma is a new concept in Russia, and journalists gathered in Moscow on February 3 for a national round table on the "Journalism of Extreme Situations" found this to be a lively and stimulating occasion.

Held as part of a national conference at Moscow State University on "Journalism in 2005: New Media Models", the meeting was organised jointly by the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ), its Union Centre for Creative Programmes and the North Caucasus bureau of the national television station NTV.

The participants—from Moscow, Rostov, Dagestan, Chechnya, Saint Petersburg and other Russian regions, as well as professionals from Sweden, the USA, Ukraine and Austria—discussed the experiences of Russian journalists reporting conflict within their own country and around the world.

They also looked at draft programmes both on the physical protection of journalists in extreme situations and a draft approach to psychological support prepared by psychologist Elena Arkhipova, consultant to the RUJ.

The meeting heard with appreciation of the experience and core publications of the Dart Centre and of discussions at past Dart seminars, especially that held in Stockholm in June 2005, with a report to the meeting from Nadya Azhgikhina as participant at Stockholm and secretary to the RUJ.

Work on raising awareness of trauma issues in Russian journalism began in the summer of 2005 with a meeting at Moscow's Journalists Club, followed in September 2005 by a first roundtable discussion at the "All Russia 2005" media festival in Dagomys on the Black Sea. The Dagomys meeting discussed the basic Dart Centre booklet on Tragedies and Journalists (insert link to online version), translated into Russian, and NTV's Mahachkala-based North Caucasus bureau chief Ruslan Gusarov proposed that the Russian State Duma (parliament) be approached to make media organisations legally responsible for the physical and emotional safety of their staff.

A summary of best practice on journalism and trauma was subsequently published both in the Russian Union of Journalists' newsletter, and in the national professional magazine "Zhurnalist", and gave birth to a lively national discussion.

As a result some psychologists specialising in media issues joined the discussion and had several of their own ideas published. The discussion was helped along by a programme on the BBC's Russian Service dedicated to trauma and journalism in October 2005, bringing together Ruslan Rusarov from Machachkala, Nadezhda Azhgikhina in Moscow and Dart's European Director Mark Brayne in London.

The RUJ then started discussions with deputies on the State Duma's Media Committee, and at a gathering on December 15, the Journalism Union's Memorial Day devoted to killed journalists, the issue was risen again, with an appeal to the Russian government to implement a programme to protect journalists in wars and other crisis situations.

All materials discussed at the February meeting in Moscow will be published in the "Zhurnalist" magazine. The RUJ now plans to prepare a special small handbook for journalists based on the materials that have been already generated—and Russian journalists and their Union look forward to taking the Dart Centre process forward in Russia.