The 2018 Dart Center Ochberg Fellows.
Reporting responsibly and credibly on violence or traumatic events — on street crime and family violence, natural disasters and accidents, war and genocide — is a great challenge. The Dart Center offers several fellowships that educate journalists on core issues of trauma science and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, experiences and challenges in the field. In addition, Dart fellowships equip journalists to approach and interview victims and survivors with greater knowledge, sensitivity, skill and success; understand the complexity of trauma survivors' experiences; tell more insightful, multi-dimensional and nuanced stories about trauma and those impacted directly or indirectly and make better, more ethical news choices when covering traumatic events.
Click here for a list of all past fellows.
The Ochberg Fellowships, our flagship global program, is a unique seminar that brings together journalists from around the world who wish to deepen their knowledge of trauma and improve coverage of violence, conflict and tragedy for a week of seminars and conversations. Since 1999 the Ochberg Fellowships have supported more than 200 journalists from 25 countries. Named in honor of Frank Ochberg, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry at Michigan State University and a pioneering figure in the definition and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, Stockholm Syndrome and other responses to violence and trauma, the Ochberg Fellowship program includes briefings by prominent interdisciplinary experts in the trauma and mental health fields; conversations with journalist colleagues on issues of ethics, craft and other aspects of professional practice; and other opportunities for intellectual engagement and peer learning.
The biennial Asia Pacific Fellowships offer seasoned journalists and their editors from the Asia-Pacific region a special opportunity to deepen their knowledge of emotional trauma and improve coverage of violence, conflict and tragedy. The five-day programme, most recently based in Fiji, combines briefings, seminars and conversations by leading experts in the trauma and journalism fields with peer-to-peer discussions on the many challenges of covering tragedy and violence.
From 2011-2013 the Dart Center ran an annual fellowship program to provide in-depth training to journalism educators. Fellows came together for four days of seminars on journalism craft, practice and teaching, and then undertook individual projects that aimed to bring these learnings back to their classrooms. The program is currently on hiatus.
The Dart Center has announced the recipients of its first ever reporting fellowships on early childhood development. The fellows will have six months to work on stories across the globe. Learn more about the fellows and their stories below.
The Ochberg Fellowship, now in its 20th year, is the Dart Center's flagship program for senior and mid-career journalists who wish to deepen their knowledge of emotional trauma and psychological injury, and improve reporting on violence, conflict and tragedy. The next fellowship will take place July 22-27, 2019. Applications will open on November 19, 2018.
In September 2017, the Dart Center hosted journalists and Ochberg Fellows Finbarr O'Reilly and Thomas Brennan for a conversation about their joint memoir, Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Conflict Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War. Scroll down for the full event video and a lightly edited transcript.
