People

Kate Black is Director of Programs and Partnerships for the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, a global project that encourages innovative and ethical news coverage on violence, conflict and tragedy worldwide. She oversees the Dart Center’s programs and activities worldwide, including the Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma, the Ochberg Fellowships, the Early Childhood Reporting Initiative, as well as specialized workshops, trainings, and public events. For seven years prior to joining the Dart Center, Kate was a program officer at the Open Society Foundations where she directed the Soros Justice Fellowships and founded and directed the Katrina Media Fellowships, each $1 million grantmaking programs.

Elana Newman, Ph.D. is the McFarlin Professor of Psychology and Affiliate Faculty in Media Studies at the University of Tulsa; and Research Director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. Newman specializes in understanding and treating trauma-related conditions and training students and professionals from many professions about the skills they need to work effectively with people suffering from trauma-related problems. Her research in the field of traumatic stress has examined a wide range of topics including the physical and psychological effects of trauma exposure upon adults and children, health care costs and trauma, journalism and trauma, occupational health and trauma, research ethics in studying trauma survivors, correctional issues and trauma, and substance abuse and trauma. Newman’s work in journalism and trauma focuses on the occupational health of journalists, including safety, harassment, educational needs, coping with trauma exposure, ethics, and the impact of trauma news on consumers.  She directs the creation of an online searchable database of articles related to journalism and trauma available at the Dart Center website. She also trains journalists on interviewing survivors, trauma-informed news management, covering traumatic events in local contexts including sexual violence on campus, self-care and occupational health, and general trauma information. Newman consults with journalists and documentary film makers about various ethical and professional trauma-related issues related to storytelling. Newman is a founding staff member of the Journalist Trauma Support Network to train qualified therapists to care for trauma-impacted journalists team members. She co-directed the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma’s’ first satellite office in NYC after 9-11. Newman is a past president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Newman was one of the co-founders of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma.

Dr. Erin Smith (PhD) is the CEO of the Dart Centre Asia Pacific. A longtime advocate for supporting the mental health and wellbeing of first responders and those impacted by trauma, Dr. Smith is a board director for the World Association of Disaster and Emergency Medicine and the Australian First Responder Foundation, an editorial board director for the journals Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, the Journal of High Threat and Austere Medicine, and the Journal of Addictive Diseases, and she writes a regular column for the Australian Emergency Services Magazine. Her research can also be found published widely in academic journals and online media including in The Conversation, where her commentary on the Australian bushfires, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the COVID-19 pandemic have reached a global audience of over 600 million. 

Dr Kimina Lyall (DPsych, clinical) is a former journalist with The Australian newspaper and Time Australia. During her 15 year career as a reporter, she worked across the paper, on stories as diverse as politics, the Olympics, features and as Southeast Asia correspondent. During that posting she became a survivor of the Boxing Day tsunami, and later wrote a book on the experience Out of the Blue: Facing the Tsunami.

Ariel Ritchin is the Senior Producer for the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma, a project of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism encouraging innovative reporting on violence, conflict and tragedy worldwide. He directs and oversees all editorial content and leads strategic and digital initiatives, while managing specialized programs, workshops and trainings for reporters all over the world. Ariel is also a multimedia journalist and documentary filmmaker whose audio and video work has appeared on Life of the Law, NBC News and PBS Newshour, among others. He has previously worked in the multimedia department at the ACLU and as a video editor for Lucky Tiger Productions. He is a Logan Nonfiction Fellow, a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow and a Posse Foundation Scholar. Ariel holds an M.S. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. from Middlebury College. 

Krystal Grow is the Program Manager of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. She was a Senior Photo Editor on the Global Picture Desk at Getty Images from 2014-2019, and from 2019-2023 managed live photo coverage and production logistics for major arts and entertainment events as a Senior Assignment Specialist, providing on-site support for photographers, editors, production staff, and high profile clients. She earned an MA from the Columbia Journalism School in 2013 and her writing on photography has appeared in American Photography, TIME LightBox, WIRED, and the New York Times Lens blog. She has produced and managed events, exhibitions, and public programs for Photoville, the largest public photography festival in the country, the DOC NYC film festival, the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, the Special Collections of the Providence Public Library, and the Narrowsburg Union. In 2021, she founded Greyscale Darkroom and Photo Lab, the only publicly accessible community darkroom and photo space in Sullivan County, New York. 

Jeanny Gering is Network Director at Dart Centre Europe. She is a TV-News and Documentary Film producer in Germany. She has worked with international broadcasters like the BBC, CBS and Arte. She’s also a screenwriter. Jeanny has worked with Dart Centre Europe since 2012 in diverse roles. Since returning from parental leave Jeanny grows and strengthens the outstanding network of journalists and clinicians who are part of Dart Centre Europe. She coordinates Dart Centre Europe trainers and liaises with partner organisations interested in receiving training in trauma informed reporting and self care for journalists. Jeanny is passionate about listening to individual network members and supporting them in creating innovative, timely initiatives with Dart Centre Europe which support trauma informed journalism and a resilient journalism culture. As Network Manager Jeanny works closely with DCEs Development Director Juliana Ruhfus, as well as colleagues at Dart US and Dart Asia Pacific.

Judith Matloff teaches crisis reporting at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. She trailblazed safety training for women and media organizations around the world, helping hundreds of journalists survive an increasingly dangerous world. Over 40 years as a journalist, she has covered top international stories including Rwanda’s genocide, apartheid and the rise of Vladimir Putin. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Forbes, the Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal. Earlier in her career, Matloff headed the Moscow and Africa bureaus of the Christian Science Monitor and she spent a decade reporting for Reuters from various countries.

Dr. Katherine Porterfield is a consulting psychologist at the Bellevue Hospital Program for Survivors of Torture and a founding staff member of the Journalist Trauma Support Network, an initiative at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University. Dr. Porterfield has provided clinical care to adults, children and families who have experienced war and refugee trauma and torture for over 25 years. She has written and edited numerous publications pertaining to the care and evaluation of survivors of trauma. She regularly consults on issues pertaining to trauma and torture, including in cases at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, in US federal and state courts, and the International Criminal Court. Dr. Porterfield has worked extensively with journalists, attorneys, and human rights organizations on recognizing and managing secondary traumatic stress and building well-being practices. Dr. Porterfield was the Chair of the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Psychosocial Effects of War on Children and Families Who Are Refugees from Armed Conflict Residing in the United States. She was trained at the legendary Second City theater and was one of the founding instructors in the Second City Training Centers in Detroit and New York. As a group facilitator, Dr. Porterfield has developed workshops and interactive programs for organizations such as the International Women’s Media Foundation, The New York Times, Washington Post, Physicians for Human Rights, Committee to Protect Journalists, NPR, Major League Baseball, Pfizer, and the Ford Foundation.

Cait McMahon OAM, PhD is a registered psychologist and the founding managing director of Dart Centre Asia Pacific, serving on the Board from its inception in 2003 until her retirement in March, 2023. Dart Asia Pacific has its headquarters in Melbourne, Australia and holds trainings and other programs throughout the Asia Pacific region. McMahon has been interested in the nexus of journalism and trauma since working as staff counsellor at The Age newspaper in Melbourne in the mid 1980’s and 90’s. This interest pushed her to pursue postgraduate research on trauma exposed journalists in 1993 with subsequent publications. Her PhD focused on Australian trauma reporting journalists, post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth. Cait has received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), one of Australia’s highest civil accolades, for her work with journalists and trauma.

Angelina Fusco is Chair of Dart Centre Europe, and one of its associate trainers in journalism and trauma. She was a recipient of a Dart Center Ochberg Fellowship in 2012 and was a Senior Fellow in 2014.

Fusco is a communications and media trainer for the Belfast company, Channel56 and sits on Ofcom's Advisory Committee in Northern Ireland and is a former member of the organisation's Content Board. She is on the Board of Tourism NI and Chair of its audit & risk committee. Angelina served two terms at the  National Lottery Heritage Fund, NI.

Fusco is a communications and media trainer for the Belfast company, Channel56 and sits on Ofcom's Advisory Committee in Northern Ireland and is a former member of the organisation's Content Board. She is on the Board of Tourism NI and Chair of its audit & risk committee. Angelina served two terms at the  National Lottery Heritage Fund, NI.

As a journalist, I worked for many years at SPIEGEL ONLINE and DER SPIEGEL: as editor, reporter, head of department and editor-in-chief. I have been rewarded as “Editor-in-Chief of the Year”. As a coach and consultant, I work with individuals and teams. This often involves personal and strategic development, conflict resolution and the digital transformation of organisations.

I have worked as a researcher at the universities of Münster, Hamburg, Sussex (UK) and at Columbia University, New York, and completed my doctorate with a multidisciplinary thesis on trust. Trust has been the focus of my scientific research for about 20 years and it forms the bracket of my academic and practical work: trust as a prerequisite for successful journalism, successful leadership and the basis of an innovative corporate culture.

As a communication scientist, I deal with the (re)gaining and loss of trust. Because trust is a prerequisite for all successful communication. Since the boundaries between coaching and therapy are sometimes fluid, it is helpful to understand issues even more deeply. Therefore, I have completed additional training and also work as a systemic therapist. This knowledge enriches my trainings, especially on trauma and journalism and self-care/resilience.

I have been involved with the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (NY) since 2005 and am working as a director of Dart Center Europe since 2021. I developed the first curriculum for journalism and trauma in Europe and taught it at universities and journalism schools. As a trainer I work with editorial offices on issues around trauma, self-care and ethical reporting. For more Information about my work and background: www.barbarahans.de

Dr. Zahera Harb is director of MA International Journalism and MA Media and Globalisation (Erasmus Mundus) programs at City University of London. Her publications include an edited collection titled “Reporting the Middle East: the Practice of News in the 21st Century” (IB Tauris 2017) and an edited collection with Dina Matar titled “Narrating Conflict in the Middle East: Discourse, Image and Communication Practices in Palestine and Lebanon” (IB Tauris 2013) and a monograph titled “Channels of Resistance: Liberation Propaganda Hezbollah and the Media“ (IB Tauris, 2011). She has published widely on Journalism and Politics in the Arab region. She is co-editor of Bloomsbury-IB Tauris book series with Dr Dina Matar on “Political Communication and Media Practices in the Middle East and North Africa”. She is co-editor of Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. She is Associate editor of the internationally renowned top ranking academic journal Journalism Practice.

Dr. Karen Fowler-Watt is Professor of Journalism and Global Narratives at Bournemouth University and a Senior Fellow of the UK’s. Higher Education Academy (Advance HE). As a BBC journalist, she worked as an output editor for Radio 4 News and Current affairs, where she made investigative documentaries and was a field producer in the Middle East, covering the Gulf Crisis and War in 1990/1 and producing news output from Moscow, Europe, Northern Ireland and the United States, with a stint as Washington bureau producer.

Jana D. Javakhishvili is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Institute of Addiction Studies at Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia. Since 2020 she is a Trustee of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma Europe (DCE). Since 2006 she is heavily engaged in the projects of the Federation Global Initiative on Psychiatry (FGIP) focused at improving human rights-based mental health care in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, and other war- and political oppressions-affected countries. She is the Past President of the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS). Currently, she is on the board of directors of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), leads the Global Crisis – Armed Conflict Thematic Group of the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress (GC-TS) and serves on the editorial board of the European Journal of Psychotraumatology (EJPT). Her research interests focus on exploring mental health and psychosocial well-being of war- and political oppression-affected populations.

Stephen Jukes is Professor of Journalism at Bournemouth University's Faculty of Media & Communication, one of the largest of its kind in Europe with an international reputation for combining research, teaching and professional practice. His research focuses on areas of objectivity and emotion in news with an emphasis on trauma and conflict journalism. He was previously a foreign correspondent and editor at the international news agency Reuters. During a series of overseas postings he covered or oversaw coverage of stories ranging from the ousting of Margaret Thatcher to the fall of the Berlin Wall, two Gulf Wars and September 11. In his final position at Reuters, he was Global Head of News and executive editor for a series of books on the Middle East conflict.  He chairs the Dart Centre for Journalism & Trauma in Europe and is a trustee of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting.

Gill is a psychological therapist at the Rivers Centre for Traumatic Stress in Edinburgh specialising in the treatment of adults who have developed traumatic stress reactions. She is involved in training and research in the UK and internationally, and has a particular interest in work with emergency service personnel and other staff with occupational exposure to potentially traumatic stressors.

Emma Thomasson is a journalist, leadership coach and consultant, specialising in workplace mental health, diversity and inclusion. She worked for Reuters for 27 years as a foreign correspondent and bureau chief. Her career took her from London to Germany, South Africa, the Middle East, the Netherlands, Switzerland and back to Germany. At Reuters, she was heavily involved in equity and mental health initiatives. She was a coordinator of the peer network at Reuters, which has made major strides to break down stigma about mental health issues. She also set up a new global editorial mentoring programme for Reuters. Since leaving the company in 2022, she has worked as a consultant and trainer, including for the Thomson Reuters Foundation on a project to support journalists forced to flee their home countries, in collaboration with the Dart Centre Europe. She is also working on a media literacy initiative to promote solutions-based journalism for young people to counter rising mental health issues and news avoidance.

Elaine Cobbe is a seasoned news journalist with more than 20 years of experience of covering international events. A correspondent for CBS News, she is based in Paris and has reported from around the world, including Iraq, Kosovo and Rwanda. She is also a regular commentator of French news on radio in Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand.

Liselotte Englund is Head of Department (Prefect) of Environmental and Life Sciences; Faculty of Health, Science and Technology at Karlstad University, Sweden. She is also Assistant Professor of Media and Communication Studies, stationed at Risk Management. Besides she is a member of the Universitys’ Executive Committes at Center for Public Safety and Health Academy. She is a former postdoctoral fellow at the National Centre of Disaster Psychiatry at Uppsala University and a freelance journalist who runs her own company, Liselotte Englund Media AB.

Chiung-wen (Julia) Hsu is an associate professor of College of Communication at National Cheng Chi University in Taiwan. She has a PhD in communication from the State University of New York at Buffalo and she has been working on media coverage of victims since 2004. 

Trond Idås is an advisor for the Norwegian Union of Journalists, and is responsible for national courses in safety and trauma training for professional journalists. He lectures in journalism and truama at Oslo University College.

Milorad Ivanovic is the deputy editor-in-chief of Blic, the largest Serbian daily newspaper. He was previously the paper’s foreign affairs editor and has a special interest in investigative and cross-border journalism. Milorad founded the Media Focus, Center for Investigative Journalism in Serbia and is on the board of SCOOP, a network of investigative journalists working in East and Southeastern Europe.