Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

New Resources for Covering Veterans

Ten years after the attacks of September 11, reporting on combat veterans remains a special challenge. Earlier this year the Dart Center, with support from the Thomas Scattergood Foundation for Behavioral Health,  sponsored a two-day workshop on covering veterans' issues for local journalists and regional news organizations in the greater Philadelphia area. Now available online: tipsheets and audio of experts and journalists on veterans' issues, navigating the VA and innovative approaches to covering vets at the local and regional level. More »

2011 Dart Awards Honor Outstanding Reporting on Institutions

There are many forces that suppress stories of trauma, from the active denial of perpetrators to the passive denial of those who prefer to look away.  But when human tragedy is embedded in complex institutions — high school, higher ed, the military — the challenges of reporting and storytelling multiply. More »

Private Battles

By David Tarrant, Sonya N. Hebert, Chris Wilkins, and Thomas Huang

This five-part series documents military families struggling as their loved ones leave to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Originally published in the Dallas Morning News June through December, 2010.

The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq

By Helen Benedict

A journalist and author tells a story almost no one wants to hear: sexual assault in the military. 

Women in War and Combat

More women are in the military than ever before, and they want journalists to get their stories right.

Veterans' Families: The Social Impact of PTSD

The story of war on the home front isn't complete without understanding its effect on military families.

21st Century War: What Journalists Need to Know

Researchers, clinicians and a retired Marine talk about how multiple deployments and the threat of grievous physical and psychological injury make it difficult for a veteran to make the journey home; part of Dart's Videos on Veterans series. 

Dave Philipps: Investigating Veteran Homicides

A reporter explains how he went from covering powder skiiing to telling the story of a brigade with a murder rate 20 times the national average – and the even more startling story of what they faced in Iraq.

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.

War's Ripple Effects: Research Priorities

Understanding of the traumatic effects of war has progressed significantly. In this selection from Dart's Videos on Veterans series, leading researchers and clinicians shed light on what needs further investigation.

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.

Remembering Dwight Radcliff

By Aaron Glantz

Aaron Glantz, a former war correspondent, writes about the death of Dwight Radcliff, an Air Force veteran who overcame homelessness to become president of the United States Veterans Initiative. More »

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 »

When Veterans Come Home

A soldier can leave the battlefield, but coming home doesn't mean the war is over. Men and women in the military are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan only to face a new set of struggles, as they carry physical and psychological wounds into a society that doesn't fully understand their experience or their sacrifice. To help them through the challenges of reintegration, the public needs to hear their stories, told with effective, ethical and sensitive reporting. More »

Framing the Combat Stress Clinic Shooting

The deadliest soldier-on-soldier incident among U.S. servicemembers since the beginning of the Iraq war occurred yesterday. Sgt. John M. Russell has been charged with five counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault after opening fire upon staff at a combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty, Iraq. More »

Self-Medicating Veterans

Six journalism grad students working with ABC’s 20/20 spent the summer investigating the stories of soldiers who abuse drugs. In their TV report, soldiers speak to the students of going into war drug-free, but turning to cocaine, amphetamines, and prescription drugs to deal with their traumatic experiences. More »

Homeless Veterans

One in four homeless people in the United States are veterans. Nearly half of those homeless veterans have a diagnosable mental illness. More »

VA Studies Suicide

The results from the Department of Veterans Affairs' latest study of suicide among veterans were released this week. More »

'Unprecedented' Report Examines War Effects

Mental-Health Stigma May Keep Sufferers from Seeking Help

By Jesse Tarbert

About one out of six veterans (15.6 to 17.1 percent) returning from Iraq met criteria for combat-related psychiatric disorders, including depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, researchers say in a report published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.