Bruce Shapiro |
Bruce Shapiro, a veteran reporter on human rights, criminal justice and related issues, has been named executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma.
The Dart Center, a global network of journalists and mental health professionals dedicated to improving media coverage of trauma, conflict and tragedy, is based at the University of Washington, and also operates in London and Melbourne. The Dart Center sponsors the Dart Ochberg Fellowships in Journalism and Trauma, the Dart Award for Excellence in Reporting on Victims of Violence, and a range of training programs and conferences.
Shapiro has been acclaimed as one of the most “sharp and thoughtful” (Washington Post), “perceptive” (Slate) and “nuanced” (Village Voice) journalists on the contemporary American scene. He is a regular contributor to The Nation and many other publications, and for the past decade has taught investigative journalism at Yale University.
Bruce Shapiro’s leadership in reforming news coverage of violence dates from 1994, when he was critically injured in a stabbing near his New Haven, Connecticut, home. Shapiro’s account of his journey from crime reporter to crime victim, published in The Nation in 1995, was a National Magazine Award finalist in essays and criticism. Over the next several years Shapiro reported extensively on crime victims and American society.
Shapiro has been a consultant to the Dart Center since its inception in 1999, launching a wide range of activities both in the US and worldwide in locations as diverse as New Orleans and Belfast.
“Bruce Shapiro brings a tremendous amount of experience, leadership and vision to the Dart Center,” says Joe Hight, managing editor of The Oklahoman and president of the Dart Center executive committee. “He has been an innovator and worldwide traveler, working tirelessly to change the media culture—how tragedies are covered as well as how journalists are treated during and in the aftermath of coverage. What I really like about Bruce is how he can relate to working journalists, from those who cover the police beats in their communities to those who cover war for the largest media organizations.
“As human violence and natural tragedy continue to strike our world, Bruce and the Dart Center will continue to spread a message of hope for those many victims and communities affected by media coverage, as well as those journalists who are thrust into the coverage of them.”
“The job of the journalist has never been more demanding,” says Frank Ochberg, M.D., of the Dart Foundation, which supports the Dart Center with a $1.2 million annual grant to the University of Washington. “Journalists are targeted for kidnapping and murder in Iraq, then rotate back to local crime beats; they are flooded out of home and office, yet stay on the job in New Orleans and Biloxi; they struggle to explain the impact of war, terrorism and disasters to the public; all while working longer hours with less job security. These reporters, news photographers, editors, producers and support staff turn to the Dart Center in increasing numbers for information, expertise, training, research and a network of colleagues. They and we at the Center are so fortunate to have Bruce Shapiro as executive director.”
“The mission of the Dart Center only grows more urgent,” Shapiro says. “The Dart Center began its work before September 11, the war in Iraq, the Boxing Day tsunami or Hurricane Katrina. Pressure is on the media as never before to provide effective and thoughtful coverage of the human impact of tragedy, while the news industry now recognizes reporters can be just as vulnerable as the people they cover.”
Shapiro’s most recent book is Shaking the Foundations: 200 Years of Investigative Journalism in America (Nation Books). He is co-author of Legal Lynching: The Death Penalty and America's Future, with Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (New Press).
Shapiro succeeds Roger Simpson, the Dart Center’s founding executive director. In addition to the Dart Center Ochberg Fellowships and the Dart Award, the Center’s programs range from training for journalists covering the aftermath of hurricanes to research on the psychological impact of reporting on war. The Dart Centre in Europe works closely with the BBC and other news organizations, and Dart Centre Australasia has trained journalists in Indonesia and Cambodia as well as Australia itself.
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