Journalists and therapists face similar challenges
when they realize their subjects are at risk of
further injury. Techniques may differ, but objectives
are the same: to inform about sources of help.
A therapist is not a lawyer or a security consultant,
but a battered woman and an abused child need
to know that shelters, restraining orders and
a network of advocates are available. Therapy
includes such referrals.
The reporter is not responsible for individual
referrals, but could include sidebars about community
resources when covering individuals who typify
the kinds of victims who would benefit from such
resources. Journalists can also mobilize colleagues
in the helping professionals when they come upon
problems that appear neglected. Ed Chen, a reporter
for the Los Angeles Times, called me twice in
recent years, not just for quotes about PTSD,
but for help with neglected problems.
Ed covered the Gulf War. Before becoming the
Dhahran Bureau chief, he interviewed wives of
human shields. Many of these women were Middle
Eastern and were sent to cities in the United
States where they had no family, friends or resources.
Their mental health needs were considerable and
there was no federal agency equipped to respond.
Several acquaintances in the helping professions,
inspired in part by Ed's reporting and his requests,
established an ad hoc charity, USA Give (Leslie
Kern, Ph.D., director). Fifty trauma experts donated
free care to 90 individuals.
Ed benefited also. Our network found him a place
on the plane when a delegation of "wives of shields"
flew to Baghdad to petition Saddam Hussein for
the release of their husbands.
Three years later, Ed called again. He was in Oklahoma
City, a week after the blast. He told me that even
seasoned journalists who covered disasters and tragedies
were heartsick, stunned and emotionally traumatized
by this assignment.
Perhaps because he arrived a week after the others,
he could see the impact on his colleagues who had
been there from the start, when there was hope that
children would be found alive, when the number of
missing was triple that of those certified dead.
Ed's call led to an initiative from Michigan State
University's School of Journalism: Trauma specialists
and journalism professors who taught courses on
victims and the media would meet with members of
the press corps who covered Oklahoma City and wanted
to reflect on the traumatic stress that they had
inherited.
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