Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

Good Wars, Bad Wars: A Special Conversation

On Tuesday, the Dart Center hosted a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dale Maharidge and Ridenhour Prize-winning journalist Nick Turse about their acclaimed new books which revise our understanding of two very different wars. In Bringing Mulligan Home, Columbia Journalism professor Dale Maharidge goes in search of the ghosts that haunted his WWII veteran father. In Kill Everything that Moves, journalist and historian Nick Turse uncovers secret Pentagon records and tracks down survivors and perpetrators, revealing the brutal consequences of America’s military policy in Vietnam.

No End In Sight: Disability Benefits For Veterans Further Delayed

Ochberg fellow Aaron Glantz highlights the failures of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide disability benefits to veterans. More »

Military Suicides in 2012 Hit Record High

The 2012 tally of military suicides is a sobering 349, almost one per day, more than any year since the military began tracking it. The Dart Center has been working with mental health experts and journalists to improve coverage and understanding of this sensitive topic.

The Wilderness After War

In a video produced for the Dart Society, 2005 Ochberg fellow Lori Grinker profiled three former U.S. service members who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. More »

Delay, Deny, Wait Till I Die: Number of Veterans Who Die Waiting for Benefits Claims Skyrockets

2011 Ochberg fellow Aaron Glantz reveals that in the fiscal year that ended in September, the Department of Veterans Affairs paid $437 million in retroactive benefits to the survivors of nearly 19,500 veterans who died waiting for their benefits. More »

Suicide Statistics

 A fact-sheet of both national and international statistics relating to suicide 

New Resources for Covering Veterans

Ten years after the attacks of September 11, reporting on combat veterans remains a special challenge. Earlier this year the Dart Center, with support from the Thomas Scattergood Foundation for Behavioral Health,  sponsored a two-day workshop on covering veterans' issues for local journalists and regional news organizations in the greater Philadelphia area. Now available online: tipsheets and audio of experts and journalists on veterans' issues, navigating the VA and innovative approaches to covering vets at the local and regional level. More »

2011 Dart Awards Honor Outstanding Reporting on Institutions

By Stan Alcorn

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. More »

Private Battles

By David Tarrant, Sonya N. Hebert, Chris Wilkins, and Thomas Huang

This five-part series documents military families struggling as their loved ones leave to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Originally published in the Dallas Morning News June through December, 2010.

The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq

By Helen Benedict

A journalist and author tells a story almost no one wants to hear: sexual assault in the military. 

Women in War and Combat

By Stan Alcorn

More women are in the military than ever before, and they want journalists to get their stories right.

Veterans' Families: The Social Impact of PTSD

By Stan Alcorn

The story of war on the home front isn't complete without understanding its effect on military families.

21st Century War: What Journalists Need to Know

By Stan Alcorn

Researchers, clinicians and a retired Marine talk about how multiple deployments and the threat of grievous physical and psychological injury make it difficult for a veteran to make the journey home; part of Dart's Videos on Veterans series. 

Dave Philipps: Investigating Veteran Homicides

A reporter explains how he went from covering powder skiiing to telling the story of a brigade with a murder rate 20 times the national average – and the even more startling story of what they faced in Iraq.

How to Interview Veterans

By Stan Alcorn

Journalists interviewing service members returning from war need the standard skills of humility and empathy – but they also need to do their homework. In this video from Dart's Videos on Veterans series, journalists, a clinician and a retired Marine explain how it's done.

War's Ripple Effects: Research Priorities

By Stan Alcorn

Understanding of the traumatic effects of war has progressed significantly. In this selection from Dart's Videos on Veterans series, leading researchers and clinicians shed light on what needs further investigation.

PTSD and the Hidden Wounds of War

By Stan Alcorn

Everyone has heard of PTSD, but veterans, clinicians and scientists say most people misunderstand not only the disorder, but the other ways that war affects individuals and families.

Remembering Dwight Radcliff

By Aaron Glantz

Aaron Glantz, a former war correspondent, writes about the death of Dwight Radcliff, an Air Force veteran who overcame homelessness to become president of the United States Veterans Initiative. More »

Why Report on Veterans?

By Stan Alcorn

When veterans come home, they bring their experiences back to their loved ones and communities. Veterans advocate Paul Sullivan and other experts talk about how local news media can best report this national story.

Challenging Conventional Wisdom About PTSD

By Stan Alcorn

Conventional wisdom about the psychological impact of war on soldiers turns out to be not very wise at all.  While public awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder has increased dramatically in recent years, in the minds of many it represents everything bad that combat can do to the mind and spirit. And the very term "disorder" implies a permanent condition from which there is little hope for recovery. More »