Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

Interviewing Patients: Abuse of Confidentiality?

By John Pope

Ethical issues and common-sense suggestions on how mental health professionals and journalists can collaborate in the coverage of people who have experienced trauma. 

Brutalized, then Betrayed

By Joan Connell

Lara Logan suffered sexual battery in Cairo, then gender bigotry back home.

Medical Writer Goes Deep on PTSD

A report on Reuters.com sheds light on how stressful  – and dangerous – the act of newsgathering has become. And what news organizations need to do about it. More »

Word Choice Crucial When Reporting Sexual Violence

By Summer Nelson

When media reports sensationalize sexual violence or attribute violent crimes to “lovers’ quarrels,” neither victims nor society are well-served. Researchers at an American Psychological Association annual meeting explored why.

Nieman Reports on Trauma Journalism

By Stan Alcorn

"We're all meaning-hungry creatures. We're permanent citizens of the republic of trauma." Those words were spoken by Pete Hamill, among 110 news professionals, artists, researchers and scholars who gathered in February 2009 at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University to explore how traumatic events challenge journalists' storytelling. More »

How Clinicians Can Help Journalists Cover Disaster

By Stan Alcorn

"If I asked you to fill in the following statement, 'Journalists are __,' what's the first thing that pops into your head?" Elana Newman, research director of the Dart Center, posed this question Monday as part of a webinar she co-hosted with Dart Center Executive Director Bruce Shapiro. In a disaster, when interviewing and reporting on victims is inevitable, the gap between a clinician's answer and a journalist's answer to this question can be the difference between stories that are both sensitive and effective and stories that are neither. More »

Audio: Conflict Journalism and Surviving Kidnap

By Stan Alcorn

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 »

Two Deaths, Two Contexts

By Stan Alcorn

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 »

Study: Photographers and Trauma

A survey of photojournalists showed that the vast majority have been exposed to traumatic events, and that about six percent report symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a recently published study by Dart Center researchers.

Anxiety and Related Disorders: Efficacy, Effectiveness, and Dissemination

In New Orleans March 24-27, the Anxiety Disorders Association of America hosts its 31st annual conference. Of interest to journalists is a presentation on the ethics of addressing trauma in the media.

Workshop: Investigative Reporters and Editors Bilingual Watchdog Training

In Laredo, Texas, a bilingual workshop on issues related to border coverage, including telling stories amid chronic threat and how to better cover stories on immigration, government corruption, and crime.

Workshop: When Soldiers Come Home

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a half-day workshop for Oklahoma-based reporters, editors, producers and news directors aimed at improving coverage of veterans' issues.

Symposium: Representations of Violence and Disaster in News Media

In San Diego, at the American Psychological Association's Annual Convention, a symposium of scholars on psychological, methodological, and theoretical approaches examining current research in journalism and trauma.

Report on Ground Zero

By Mike Cane

Elana Newman, Ph.D., a University of Tulsa associate professor of psychology, and Barbara Monseu, a Denver investment consultant who as a school district official had coordinated responses to students, families and staff following the April 1999 Columbine High School shooting, went to New York City for the Dart Center in December 2002. For more than six months they directed Dart Center Ground Zero (DCGZ). Their goal: To link journalists affected by the attacks to emotional, technical and physical support resources.These three articles review the achievements of that project, which was funded by a grant from the Dart Foundation. They are drawn from the project report, written by Monseu and Newman, and from interviews with Newman.