Resources for How Trauma Affects Photographers, Blog Posts

A September 24 benefit performance of the play "Bare Witness" aims to raise money to provide training for journalists in Asia's youngest democracy. 

On January 22, the 2017 Ochberg Fellows concluded a week of seminars and conversations on trauma science, journalism craft and ethics around covering violence, conflict and trauma.

Welcome to DartBlog — a new place to look for informed analysis of media coverage of violence, conflict and tragedy; breakthroughs in trauma science and policy; and how it all bears on the individual reporter. This space will take the place of "Need to Know" and "Story of the Week," with all their past posts accessible in its archive. [Pending. Be patient]

In the year since the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, NPR's Gene Demby, like many of his black colleagues, has reported tirelessly on race and policing. In a 4,000 word piece for NPR's Code Switch, he reflected on the tremendous toll this work has had on him and on fellow black reporters, and explained why he came close to resigning.

If you haven't heard of GlobalPost--an ambitious new international news start-up-- read this Columbia Journalism Review profile now. Whether or not their innovative business and editorial model is the Future of Journalism, it's cheering to read on their founding editor Charles M. Sennott's blog that they will be distributing the Dart Center's guide to covering violence--Tragedies and Journalists--to all their correspondents.

We emailed Sennott to ask how he became involved with the Dart Center and how else his organization planned to help his semi-freelance reporters cover traumatic events.

Professor Ian Richards from the University of South Australia this year became the inaugural Dart Centre Australasia Academic Fellow.

Following the landmark PTSD case in which a journalist referred to as "AZ" sought damages against Australia's The Age newspaper, Bree Knoester, one of the plaintiff's lawyers, reflects on the case, which was ultimately won by The Age. "Perhaps injuries are not preventable at all," Knoester writes. "What is clear, particularly through the work of Dart, is that there are systems that can be put in place by media organisations."

At the APME NYC NewsTrain workshop, Mandy Jenkins of Project Thunderdome shared tips and tools on using social media to find reporting sources, as well as how to fact-check and curate social media to augment coverage.

On January 25, the 2013-2014 Ochberg Fellows concluded a week of seminars and conversations on new developments in trauma science, and journalism craft and practice on issues of violence, conflict and trauma.

When a community is hit by a tragedy – natural disaster, accident or crime – local broadcasters are often the first on the scene. And they continue to bear witness long after bigger media groups have gone.