Resources for How Trauma Affects Photographers, Blog Posts

Ten years after the death of Martin O’Hagan, the only journalist killed in Northern Ireland's three-decade civil conflict, the National Union of Journalists held a conference in Belfast on September 30 exploring the safety issues and pressures that arise when covering sectarian violence. As the NUJ's Freelance reports, the theme was trauma and the effects of trauma that go beyond the front line.

The Dart Center hosted a delegation of broadcast journalists at Columbia Journalism School for a wide-ranging conversation on covering violence.

The violence that surrounds drug trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico border makes it among the most dangerous and difficult beats any journalist can cover. Twenty six reporters from both sides of the border who cover this beat  gathered at the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas in Austin, Texas on March 26 and 27, 2010 to discuss how to stay safe and get stories out at a seminar sponsored by the McCormick Foundation.

"It just doesn't go out of the brain." Onscreen, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation editor described watching footage of a beheading in Iraq. At a brown bag lunch at the Columbia Journalism School on Oct. 30, students watched a DVD chronicling journalists' experiences covering traumatic stories, from accidents to terrorism, and then discussed how to manage such occupational stress with two of Australia's leading experts on the subject.

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.

18 months ago, the legendary photojournalist James Nachtwey received the TED Prize: $100,000 to grant one wish to change the world.

His wish was to gain access to an undisclosed, under-reported story, and to break it in a way that provides "spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age."

Friday, October 3rd, that story finally breaks ...

For journalists sorting fact from myth as they cover the story of 2009 H1N1, there's now a one-stop resource for you online.  "Covering Pandemic Flu" provides resources written by journalists for journalists ... 

PBS' "Frontline" recently brought together a group of international experts in conflict reporting to talk about new challenges and needs in the field. The network also recorded the event, and has just made available online polished videos of lively conversations between journalists and advocates from Current TV, the New York Times, the Committee, Protect Journalists and others.

We're please to share a terrific new resource from our colleagues at WITNESS on interviewing survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, created in consultation with Dart Center Research Director, Elana Newman.

The Age Boom Academy is now accepting applications for its annual three-day workshop for journalists. This year's Academy, May 31 - June 2, will focus on the impacts of new technology on an aging workforce, and will feature leading experts in journalism, science and economics.