Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

Children and Media Coverage of Trauma

By Christina Cantrell and Elana Newman

An overview of current research on the short- and long-term impacts of media coverage of tragedy on children, as well as aggravating risk factors and suggestions for future research.

Covering Trauma: Impact on Journalists

By River Smith and Elana Newman

An overview of current research on the occupational hazards for journalists covering traumatic events, the risk factors that aggravate those effects and some suggestions for mitigating those factors.

PTSD 101

Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder

By Frank Ochberg

Journalists are candidates for Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder, an empathic response that affects us, therapists included, when our professional detachment is overwhelmed by certain life events.

Self-Study Unit 3: Photography & Trauma

IV. Traumatic Stress and the News Audience

The field of mass communication study is largely build upon “effects research,” the study of how media content (e.g., movies, newspaper articles, propaganda, television programs, etc.) affects some segment of the population. This research goes back about three-quarters of a century and has yielded a wide range of useful findings.

Tragedies & Journalists

I. Interviewing

By Joe Hight and Frank Smyth

Always treat victims with dignity and respect - the way you want to be treated in a similar situation. Journalists will always seek to approach survivors, but reporters should do it with sensitivity, including knowing when and how to back off.

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Self-Study Unit 2: Covering Terrorism

V. Telling Stories

By Elana Newman and Chris Bull

The stories journalists tell, visually and verbally, help the public make sense of confusing, threatening times. In fact there is evidence that putting language to traumatic experiences helps individuals cope. Although it is not a stated mission of the press to heal, articulating the event for others may have a therapeutic effect on the larger community.

Self-Study Unit 1: Journalism & Trauma

II. Effects of Traumatic Stress

In recent years, thanks to a number of researchers, educators and organizations, the role of traumatic stress and journalism has come under closer scrutiny.

Covering Columbine

By Meg Moritz

This documentary, available online and on DVD, examines the impact of the news coverage of the Columbine High School shootings.

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Violence/Crime

A list of academic publications that address trauma, violence, and criminal justice.

Breaking Bad News

V. Things to Say and Not to Say

Be open and honest; don't try to shield the family from the circumstances of the death. They may well find out the details through other channels.