Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

How to Interview Veterans

Journalists interviewing service members returning from war need the standard skills of humility and empathy – but they also need to do their homework. In this video from Dart's Videos on Veterans series, journalists, a clinician and a retired Marine explain how it's done.

PTSD and the Hidden Wounds of War

Everyone has heard of PTSD, but veterans, clinicians and scientists say most people misunderstand not only the disorder, but the other ways that war affects individuals and families.

Why Report on Veterans?

When veterans come home, they bring their experiences back to their loved ones and communities. Veterans advocate Paul Sullivan and other experts talk about how local news media can best report this national story.

Challenging Conventional Wisdom About PTSD

Conventional wisdom about the psychological impact of war on soldiers turns out to be not very wise at all.  While public awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder has increased dramatically in recent years, in the minds of many it represents everything bad that combat can do to the mind and spirit. And the very term "disorder" implies a permanent condition from which there is little hope for recovery. More »

Nieman Reports on Trauma Journalism

"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 »

Investigating Mental Health, Trauma

By Jesse Tarbert

Atlanta — The shielding of records about children in public care has "done more to harm children and protect adults than anything else," said Jane Hansen of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. She spoke on a panel on mental-health issues co-sponsored by the Dart Center at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in Atlanta.