The Dart Center offered a two-day reporting institute on covering gun violence for journalists reporting in the Midwest, February 10 and 11 in Chicago, Illinois. A select number of institute participants will be awarded three to six month reporting fellowships for 2017.
In the summer of 2016, in advance of a two-day conference commemorating the centennial of the Pulitzer Prize, Dart Center researchers interviewed 10 Pulitzer Prize winners from the past 20 years who were honored for their coverage of traumatic events or investigative reporting on trauma-related issues. Navigate through sections of this article to find pieces by: Alex Hannaford, who wrote on the relationship between Pulitzer winners and their sources, and on the impact of Charles Porter's 1996 Prize-winning photo; Elana Newman, who gathered advice from honorees on best practices in trauma reporting, and created teaching notes for the classroom with Matthew Ricketson and Autumn Slaughter; Matthew Ricketson, who also wrote a conference recap for those who could not be in attendance.
Journalists Alex Renton, Katharine Quarmby and Olly Lambert spoke with the Dart Center about the challenges of reporting on child abuse, and trauma experts Sarah Heke and Shelagh Beckett shared tactics for interviewing victims of childhood trauma.
Anniversaries mark progress and the passage of time. They can also conjure memories we may not always want to face. On this anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Dart Center calls attention to a uniquely eloquent journalistic record of the attacks' long aftermath; to a powerful tenth anniversary essay on personal loss and collective historical memory; and to resources available as we seek to better cover, and understand, the longterm effects of horrific events.
At the 2016 Investigative Reporters & Editors Conference in New Orleans, the Dart Center sponsored a panel on investigating the aftermath of disasters featuring Jason Berry, Propublica's Justin Elliott, NPR's Laura Sullivan, PBS Frontline's Rick Young and the Dart Center's Bruce Shapiro.
In her book The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts, Laura Tillman examines the lasting effects of a deeply troubling crime—the brutal murder of three young children by their parents in the border city of Brownsville, Texas. Over six years, Tillman surveyed those surrounding the crimes, speaking with the lawyers who tried the case, the family’s neighbors, relatives and teachers, as well as one of the murderers: John Allen Rubio, whom she corresponded with for years. Over the course of their correspondence, Tillman wrestled with a series of tough questions: In the pursuit of a story, what constitutes manipulation? Is some degree of manipulation in this context inevitable? Is it wrong for a murderer to be gratified by the result?
The Ochberg Fellowship, now in its 18th year, is the Dart Center's flagship program for veteran 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 application deadline is September 30, 2016. Click here to apply.
Freelance foreign correspondent Alex Duval-Smith, Knight International Journalism Fellow Javier Garza, Radio France International reporter and producer Imogen Lamb, Reveal investigative reporter Aaron Glantz and ABC foreign correspondent Sally Sara share their experiences as Dart Center Ochberg Fellows. Click here to apply now!
Robert Nickelsberg has been photographing in Afghanistan since 1988. When he returned to Kabul this fall, he thought of a new way to cover the complexity of the conflict, focusing on those left behind: war widows. “This is really what all those deaths add up to,” he said. “The challenge for a country to take care of its people.” A Dart Center Q&A.
On April 28, 1996, 35 people were killed and 23 were injured in Port Arthur, Tasmania.