Protecting Journalists in Times of Crisis: Resilience through Collaboration

Journalists and newsrooms around the globe are under intense pressure to cover the range of crises playing out the world over. While the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have been dominating headlines, persecution by repressive regimes, organized crime and violence and harassment online are putting journalists at high risk – not only physically, but psychologically, too.

At the heart of this conversation is the question of how to protect journalists’ psychological well being. Representatives from Dart Centre Europe, Forbidden Stories and Le Monde will discuss the importance of a trauma-informed newsroom culture and how working in teams offers important protections and increases resilience.

The panel will discuss the effects of covering conflict and death of colleagues, as well as working with graphic imagery, and how journalists and news teams can build in practices for protecting their own psychological resilience. The panel will also offer insights into the realities facing journalists today – the risks they take to get a story out and the toll this can have on their professional and personal lives.

This event will be held in English. Co-organized by Columbia Global Centers | Paris and Dart Centre Europe, with Le Monde and Forbidden Stories. The Reid Hall Caféothèque will be open before the event with wine and snacks for sale.

Speakers

Juliana Ruhfus is the European director of the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma and is working to deliver a range of training, research, and programs that reflect the changing needs of journalists and media organisations today. She is an award-winning filmmaker, television presenter and executive producer specialising in investigative and current-affairs programming who came to the Dart Centre as an Ochberg fellow and trustee on the European board of directors.

Richard Laurent is a French award-winning documentary filmmaker, producer, and founder of Forbidden Stories, a global network of journalists whose mission is to pursue the investigations of reporters who have been murdered, jailed or threatened. He has directed documentaries for 20 years and was a Knight-Wallace Fellow in 2017 at the University of Michigan. He was named European Journalist of the year 2018 by the Prix Europa in Berlin.

 

Faustine Vincent is a French journalist for Le Monde. A graduate of the School of Journalism in Lille, she has worked for many years on international politics for various media outlets. At Le Monde, she has investigated the mechanics of femicides, sexual violence, the scandal of chlordécone in the Antilles, the Covid crisis, and the reintegration of soldiers affected by post-traumatic stress. Since 2020, she has been covering the changes and conflicts in the post-Soviet space for the International Desk.

Marie Doezema has worked as a journalist and editor in Japan, Qatar, and across the U.S. and Europe producing work for outlets including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and National Public Radio. She has taught journalism at Sciences Po, the Sorbonne, and currently works as Special Projects Manager for Columbia Global Centers | Paris.

 

Organizers

The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma is a resource center and global network of journalists, journalism educators and health professionals dedicated to improving media coverage of trauma, conflict and tragedy. It is a project of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, with international satellite offices in London and Melbourne. Through the innovative work of its staff and the active engagement of volunteer news professionals, clinicians, and researchers, the Dart Center has been able to respond to exceptional events challenging journalism while expanding a core commitment to innovative training and support for all news professionals encountering violence and tragedy in the practice of their craft. The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma is a global leader in journalism ethics and innovative reporting practice; news organizations' duty of care;  safety training for news professionals; and expanding press freedom.

Columbia Global Centers | Paris addresses pressing global issues that are at the forefront of international education and research: agency and gender; climate and the environment; critical dialogues for just societies; encounters in the arts; and health and medical science.

Partners

Forbidden Stories is a network of journalists whose mission is to protect, pursue, and publish the work of other journalists facing threats, prison, or murder. It is the only existing program with this mission, with the message that killing the journalist won’t kill the story.

Le Monde is one of France’s leading daily newspapers. Le Monde in English, founded in 2022, celebrated its one-year anniversary at CGC | Paris this Spring.

Venue

Nestled in the Montparnasse district, Reid Hall hosts several Columbia University initiatives: Columbia Global Centers | Paris, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Columbia Undergraduate Programs, M.A. in History and Literature, and the GSAPP Shape of Two Cities Program. This unique combination of resources is enhanced by our global network whose mission is to expand the University's engagement the world over through educational programs, research initiatives, regional partnerships, and public events.

This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc.

The views and opinions expressed by speakers and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of Columbia Global Centers | Paris or its affiliates.