Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

Witness: A Classroom Guide

By Meg Spratt

A guide to help educators use photojournalist Donna DeCesare's Dart Media presentation, "Witnessing and Picturing Violence," to teach ethical reporting.

Weathering the Trauma Storms: Developing Interviewing Techniques

By Gavin Rees

Nearly every journalist in the course of their career will interview people who have experienced significant trauma. But how many receive any training for the task? This article describes how role-playing traumatic incidents might give student journalists valuable insight and hone crucial interviewing skills.

The Virginia Tech Shootings

Dart Center Ochberg Fellows and other journalists who have covered large-scale killings share their advice for colleagues in Blacksburg.

Reporting War

Lessons Learned From Challenging Assignments

Thirteen conflict journalists gathered recently at Bretton Woods, N.H., to discuss their careers as war reporters and photographers, the craft of combat journalism and the challenges raised by these difficult assignments.

A Sense of Outrage

By Gavin Hewitt

Running through the coverage of Katrina, like an electric current, was outrage. It is an emotion that stands out in television coverage because it is rare. Most reporters shy away from letting their emotions show.

Reporter's Notebook: Reliving the Day

By Beth Fertig

The press release arrived in my email one day in early August. It was from the Fire Department of New York, announcing that—in compliance with a lawsuit brought by the New York Times—the department would be releasing the recordings of its dispatch tapes from September 11, 2001.

Even Without Malice, Errors Still Hurt

A Journalist Recalls the Reporting of Her Daughter's Death

By Jenny Wishart

Reporters may have felt they didn’t want to intrude, but far from a closed and hushed house between Sheona’s death and her funeral, it was literally an open house.

Reporting Ethically About Victims

By Paula LaRocque

Despite the best intentions of journalists, news reports are sometimes hurtful to victims and their families. In a recent article in Quill, the national magazine of the Society of Professional Journalists, noted writing coach and columnist Paula LaRocque compares two newspapers' coverage of a homicide.

Abuse in the Catholic Church

By Christy Cox

Almost two years ago, the Boston Globe began an extensive effort to chronicle and report the clergy abuse scandal within the Catholic Church. The resulting series has received a 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. The Globe was honored, according to the Pulitzer website, "for its courageous, comprehensive coverage ... an effort that pierced secrecy, stirred local, national and international reaction and produced changes in the Roman Catholic Church."

Tragedy in Focus

Three acclaimed photojournalists, Peter Howe, Jenny Matthews, and Joseph Rodriguez came together at a special Dart Center and Center for Communication panel discussion on “Photojournalism: Tragedy in Focus” in New York.

First Responders

By Joe Hight

Have you ever been first to arrive at the scene of a tragedy? Have you ever sent a reporter or photographer to a disaster scene without thinking through the consequences?