journalists
"We don't want journalists that act like machines"
A network of American journalists and psychologists has studied for more than ten years the relationship between journalism and trauma: a neglected binomial in Latin America but one of the most important at the moment of covering catastrophes, wars and treating with victims who have been exposed to traumatic events. Frank Ochberg M.D., psychiatrist, and Chairman Emeritus of Dart Center's Executive Committee for Journalism & Trauma of Washington' University, talks about the topic in this interview.
Question: Since when and why is Dart Center interested in dealing with a relation as the existing one between Journalism and Trauma?
Frank Ochberg. M.D.: Journalists cover trauma. They cover robbering, rape, murder, war, without stopping to think how to interview persons who have recently been shocked or affected by these facts. It always has been said that these are news of public interest and in fact, people deserve to know them. But a journalist who newly leaves the classrooms and someone ask him/her to interview the mother of a murdered child or a family that is suffering some catastrophe, he/she doesn't know how to approach his/her interviewed, while readers or viewers think that he/she has no heart. On the contrary, it is usually that journalists feel sensitive because of the facts or sometimes doesn't even want to cover them. That's why is so important to teach them to do it accurately and sensibly. Helping traumatized people is what doctors, psychologists and research scientists we do, so what Dart wants to do, in a very respectful way, is to introduce journalists to the field of trauma science. The way that you seek questions, seek truths, and develope a story is interesting and educational for us. I think as I have become familiar with journalists, I become a better doctor. The idea is to advance in this experience together. We are doing it all over the world. We started in a very minor way in the late 1980's in United States, and thanks to Dart Family, who admire this job and started giving donations in 1991, we created the first program in association with Michigan State University and University of Washington in Seattle. In about 1999 I was introduced to journalists from other countries, and we created Dart Center Europe, and Dart Center Australasia. We aren't yet in South America but there is a great interest in helping Latin American journalists because we know the difficult conditions that you live with.
A network of American journalists and psychologists has studied for more than ten years the relationship between journalism and trauma: a neglected binomial in Latin America but one of the most important at the moment of covering catastrophes, wars and treating with victims who have been exposed to traumatic events. Frank Ochberg M.D., psychiatrist, and Chairman Emeritus of Dart Center's Executive Committee for Journalism & Trauma of Washington' University, talks about the topic in this interview.
Question: Since when and why is Dart Center interested in dealing with a relation as the existing one between Journalism and Trauma?
Frank Ochberg. M.D.: Journalists cover trauma. They cover robbering, rape, murder, war, without stopping to think how to interview persons who have recently been shocked or affected by these facts. It always has been said that these are news of public interest and in fact, people deserve to know them. But a journalist who newly leaves the classrooms and someone ask him/her to interview the mother of a murdered child or a family that is suffering some catastrophe, he/she doesn't know how to approach his/her interviewed, while readers or viewers think that he/she has no heart. On the contrary, it is usually that journalists feel sensitive because of the facts or sometimes doesn't even want to cover them. That's why is so important to teach them to do it accurately and sensibly. Helping traumatized people is what doctors, psychologists and research scientists we do, so what Dart wants to do, in a very respectful way, is to introduce journalists to the field of trauma science. The way that you seek questions, seek truths, and develope a story is interesting and educational for us. I think as I have become familiar with journalists, I become a better doctor. The idea is to advance in this experience together. We are doing it all over the world. We started in a very minor way in the late 1980's in United States, and thanks to Dart Family, who admire this job and started giving donations in 1991, we created the first program in association with Michigan State University and University of Washington in Seattle. In about 1999 I was introduced to journalists from other countries, and we created Dart Center Europe, and Dart Center Australasia. We aren't yet in South America but there is a great interest in helping Latin American journalists because we know the difficult conditions that you live with.
posted by information @ 3:21 PM
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