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Journalists in the disaster regions will cover the
tsunami story with frenetic energy for the first few
days. The demands of coverage will enable them to
witness and endure emotionally draining scenes and
situations in the short term, but for many, the wounds
to the emotions will only be postponed until conditions
stabilize.
Journalists, along with all relief and emergency
workers, are vulnerable to emotional effects from
working in settings of death, destructions and despair.
That so many victims were children will exacerbate
the impact on working journalists. Editors managing
coverage, and especially those who monitor and select
photographs or video materials, also require attention
as the coverage continues.
The Dart Center offers these tips for editors and
managers:
- Cover the story, but be strategic. Consider who
is being sent to the scene. Are they experienced
or prepared enough? Make sure correspondents have
a contact person or editor who can incorporate their
reporting of photographs in the overall coverage.
- Determine your focus. In the case of a major disaster,
assign staff members for certain areas, including
on-scene coverage, coverage of victims, accuracy
of numbers, and help and recovery.
- Meet for brief periods each day during a major
disaster to develop a clear focus and review coverage.
- Understand that journalists on the front lines
may be experiencing trauma and give them support
in coping with their experiences.
- Recognize that emotional defenses may be down,
and treat reporters with respect and care. As a
BBC report on Journalism and Traumatic Stress puts
it: “Telling a correspondent who’s just
come out of a firefight that their report is rubbish
is not merely bad people-handling. It can literally
and physically re-traumatise that individual.”
- Keep families of correspondents in mind. Make
sure partners and spouses are kept informed about
their loved one's assignment, location, and status.
(For more on support for families, click
here).
For more, see Covering
Disasters in the Tips and Tools section of the
Dart Center website.
For more on current coverage of the tsunami see:
The
Asian Tsunami: Think Globally, Locally, Journalistically,
poynter.org
Broadcasters
Struggle to Make Sense of a Disaster, NYT.com
Blogs
Provide Raw Details From Scene of the Disaster, NYT.com
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