Abstract
The way that journalists cover disasters and traumatic events has been developing in recent years, gradually moving from an approach driven by the demands of deadlines and the primacy of gathering facts to a more active consideration of the need to treat individuals and communities affected by disasters and traumatic events with dignity and respect. It would be wrong to assert this shift in approach is universal in newsrooms, but interviews with three experienced journalists who have had trauma-awareness training demonstrate at least some change in attitudes and approaches. This chapter outlines what is required in trauma-aware reporting.
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Notes
- 1.
Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Ethics in Journalism, 50.
- 2.
See Scanlan, Farrelly-Rosch, Nicoll and Bendall, “Clinical Practice in Youth Mental Health.”
- 3.
Southwick and Charney, Resilience, 201.
- 4.
See Southwick, Bonanno, Masten, Panter-Brick and Yehuda, “Resilience Definitions, Theory, and Challenges,” 2014.
- 5.
McMahon, “An Investigation into Posttraumatic Stress and Posttraumatic Growth among Trauma Reporting Australian Journalists.”
- 6.
American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
- 7.
Herman, Trauma and Recovery, 33.
- 8.
Muller, Media EthicsandDisasters.
- 9.
Gearing, “Why Disaster Survivors Speak to Reporters.”
- 10.
See Shultz, Muschert, Dingwall & Cohen, “The Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting as Tipping Point.”
- 11.
TheGuardian, 1 January 2020.
- 12.
Humphrey, “The Politics of Trauma.”
- 13.
Loughran, “Effective Reflective Practice.”
- 14.
Scanlan, Farrelly-Rosch, Nicoll & Bendall, “Clinical Practice in Youth Mental Health.”
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McMahon, C., Ricketson, M. (2021). Reporting Disasters and Traumatic Events. In: Ward, S.J.A. (eds) Handbook of Global Media Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32103-5_34
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