DART CENTER EVENT
What Educators Need to Know Journalism teachers in the Chicago area are invited to apply now to attend "Teaching Trauma": a two day workshop exploring new directions in media education.
When: Friday, Nov. 7 and Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008
Where: Loyola University, Chicago
Application deadline: Sept. 24, 2008 |

First Dead Body
By Peter Drought
ABC cameraman Peter Drought tells a story most journalists neither forget nor openly discuss: the first brush with another's death.
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2008 Ochberg Fellows Announced
The Dart Center has awarded this year's Ochberg Fellowships to nine mid-career journalists dedicated to applying knowledge of emotional trauma to improving coverage of violent events.
Dan Grech, APM, "Marketplace"
Kelly Kennedy, Times News Service
Christina Lamb, Sunday Times, U.K.
Alysa Landry, Farmington Daily Times (Four Corners, N.M.)
John Moore, Getty Images
Devin Robins, NPR, "News & Notes"
Hollman Morris, Channel One, “Contravía,” Colombia
Karyn Spencer, Omaha World-Herald
Jon Stephenson, TV3, New Zealand
Read more |

Letter From Tbilisi
By Margarita Akhvlediani
In the conflict between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia, journalists are caught in the middle. To tell the "other" side's story is to risk your life; to not tell it is to risk prejudice hardening into ethnic hatred.
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Kenyan Journalists Face the Aftermath
By Sherry Ricchiardi
The violence that for months wracked East Africa's most stable democracy endangered not only journalistic standards but local journalists themselves. Now they struggle to recover — both as individuals and as watchdogs of a precarious peace.
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Telling the Catastrophe Story
Months have passed since China's worst earthquake in decades leveled entire towns just days after Cyclone Nargis claimed more than 130,000 lives in Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta. For the millions affected, the disaster continues. For journalists reporting their stories, the Dart Center has assembled tip sheets, journalists' advice and reflection on past disasters and other resources of relevance.
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2008 DART AWARDS
Introducing the Award Winners
The Dart Center has announced the selection of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and National Public Radio as the winners of the 2008 Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma. Full coverage, including all the stories that won awards or honorable mentions, is available here.
Event:
Covering Violence Against Women
On Wednesday, April 23rd, The Dart Center held a reception for the winners of the 2008 Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma followed by a panel with the award winners: "Out of the Shadows: Reporting on Violence Against Women.". Check back next week for event coverage. |

Video: Keeping It Real
Low crime rates mask an epidemic of violence among urban youth, but how can journalists get this story right? Watch streaming video of a Dart Center discussion at the Columbia School of Journalism with panelists:
• David Meeks, city editor, New Orleans Times-Picayune
• Joseph Rodriguez, photojournalist
• Clarivel Ruiz, Director of Youth Programs, Downtown Community Television Center... |

Video: ‘Points of Entry’
Covering Immigrants and Immigration
Video from a recent Dart Center discussion at the Columbia School of Journalism. Panelists include:
• Nina Bernstein, reporter, The New York Times
• Jacob Massaquoi, Director, African Refuge
• Arlene Morgan, Associate Dean of Prizes and Programs, Columbia Journalism School
• Mirta Ojito, Assistant Professor, Columbia Journalism School, and former reporter at The New York Times, The Miami Herald, and El Nuevo Herald ... |

How Newsrooms Can Prepare
It takes a single phone call, a single alert on a police scanner, a single wire-service bulletin bearing word of catastrophe to upend the
well-ordered chaos of a newsroom. In Minneapolis, it was
the interstate highway collapse ... |

Documentary: Bearing Witness
The burden of bearing witness is borne by journalists around the globe who put themselves on the front line of conflict and tragedy in the course of their work. But what sustains them? How do they deal with trauma? This is subject of a one-hour documentary produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, recently aired on the weekly program Compass ... |

Hidden in Plain Sight
At a recent Dart Center panel at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, four pioneers in reporting the human impact of the Iraq War — photographer Nina Berman and reporters Mark Benjamin, Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman — discussed the challenges of reporting on these veterans. Click here for video from the panel, here for a summary and transcript ...
Interviewing veterans
By Joe Hight
A wounded veteran, mental health experts and journalists offer tips on how to interview soldiers returning from Iraq, the Middle East or Afghanistan ... |
A Victim's View
By Joe Hight
Sarah King Fortney, whose husband died in a plane crash last summer, shares her advice for journalists who cover tragedy ... |

Australian Journos Pen Open Letter
Senior Australian journalists, following a meeting at Coff's Harbour convened by Dart Centre Australasia, have drafted an open letter calling on the country's editors and news managers to foster “the resilience of news workers to handle the trauma and violence we face in our daily work” ... |
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NEED TO KNOW
PTSD, Trauma Shrink Hippocampus
A study in neuroscience journal Hippocampus finds childhood trauma and PTSD symptoms preceding a shrinkage of a part of the brain associated with memory and learning.
(Posted: Friday, August 29, 2008) |
DART CENTER NEWS
Lois Norder Wins Mimi Award
The Dart Society recognizes the managing editor of investigations at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for her passion, sensitivity and commitment to excellence in covering victims of tragedy.
Air Force Revises Subpoena Rules
Following a meeting with Dart Society members, U.S. Air Force officials have revamped their subpoena practices to extend greater protections to journalists...
Dart to Support Hostage Help Center
With the support of the Dart Center, the International News Safety Institute has set up a resource for responding to kidnappings of journalists and other news professionals...
Update from Australasia
The January 2008 newsletter from the Dart Center in Australasia: trauma and journalism in Indonesia, a new DVD and more...
Ochberg Fellow Wins Reporting Award
Denver Post investigative reporter Miles Moffeit, a 2004 Dart Center Ochberg Fellow and vice president of The Dart Society, has won John Jay College's award for Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting....
Center Names New President
Investigative journalist Deborah Nelson has been elected president of the Dart Center Executive Committee. She succeeds Joe Hight, managing editor of the Daily Oklahoman, who served as the Executive Committee's first president ... |
Lessons from Other Mass Killings
Virginia Tech: Advice from journalists, lessons for local newsrooms and a profile of a student newspaper's coverage of the tragedy.
Columbine: Two firsthand accounts by newspaper reporters struggling to ethically cover the high-school killings.
Port Arthur, Tasmania: A reporter reflects on the challenge of covering "Australia's worst mass murder."
Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania: An analysis of the effect of the national media's coverage of the small-town "Amish tragedy."
Dart Center Resources
Quick Tips: A guide for reporters, editors, photographers and managers on every aspect of reporting tragedy.
Online Courses: The Dart Center's comprehensive multimedia curriculum on journalism and trauma.
Links: An index of other organizations and resources for reporting and trauma.
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DART CENTER PUBLICATIONS
Free Training for War Reporters
"Reporting War," a training booklet by Dart Fellow Sharon Schmickle, is now available upon request from the Dart Center. Read about the meeting of thirteen journalists that started the project here. To request a free copy of the booklet e-mail info@dartcenter.org. |
Experts Unite on Early Trauma Support
Should journalists and other witnesses of traumatic or violent events receive mandatory counseling or debriefing in the immediate aftermath? No, concludes a major article published in the July 1, 2007, edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry. |
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