The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma is a resource center and

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

for journalists who cover violence, conflict and tragedy around the world. A project of the

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sch ...

in New York City, the Dart Center also operates Dart Centre Europe, based in London; Dart Centre Asia Pacific, based in Melbourne; and a research node at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...

. The Dart Center's mission is to improve the quality of journalism on traumatic events, while also raising awareness in newsrooms of the impact such coverage has on the journalists telling the stories. The Dart Center has conducted seminars, training and support programs for journalists covering the

attacks of September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

, the

Boxing Day tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the scient ...

, the

Troubles in Northern Ireland The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed ...

, the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

and the

Virginia Tech shootings The Virginia Tech shooting was a spree shooting that occurred on Monday, April 16, 2007, comprising two attacks on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. ...

, among other events. The Dart Center's director is the American journalist

Bruce Shapiro Bruce Shapiro is an American journalist, commentator and author. He is executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, a resource center and think tank for journalists who cover violence, conflict and tragedy, based at the Columb ...

History and programs

The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma was founded at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in 1999 to nurture innovation in ethical reporting on victims of violence and tragedy. Among its founders were Roger Simpson, a professor of communication at UW and the center's director until 2006, and

Frank Ochberg Frank Ochberg (born 1940), is a psychiatrist, a pioneer in trauma science, an educator and the editor of the first text on the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He is one of the founding fathers of modern psychotraumatology and ...

, a psychiatrist and authority on

post traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...

. It was named for its principal funder, the Dart Foundation. The Dart Center re-located to

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in the spring of 2009. Among the Dart Center's programs are the annual Dart Center Awards for Excellence in Reporting on Trauma (given annually since 1994) and the fellowship program, called after one of its founders

which is aimed at mid career journalists who want to deepen their knowledge of emotional trauma and improve coverage of violence, conflict and tragedy, among whom six to ten journalists are selected every year to attend an intensive weeklong seminar program, including discussions with journalist colleagues, and the annual conference of the

International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies is a professional association established on March 2, 1985, in Washington, D.C. It aims to disseminate the state of the science as it pertains to the effects of trauma. History The organizati ...

. As of November 2008, 80 journalists—from 19 states and seven nations—had been selected for Dart Center Ochberg Fellowship. The Dart Center has also encouraged and led research on the psychological impact of reporting traumatic events on journalists, and encouraged the development of training and support programs at leading news organizations. Its affiliate Dart Centre in Europe has developed programs for the BBC and other news organizations. Dart Centre Australasia works actively with journalists in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Cambodia and elsewhere in the region.

References

. ''Journalists Under Fire: The Psychological Hazards of Covering War''. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. . * Hight, Joe and Frank Smyth
Tragedies and Journalists
Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, 2003. * Newman, E. & Shapiro, B. ''Helping Journalists Who Cover Humanitarian Crisis'', In G. Reyes (ed.). International Disaster Psychology, Vol. IV, Westport, CT:

Praeger Publications Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG) was an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which was part of ABC-Clio. Since 2021, ABC-Clio and its suite of imprints, including GPG, are collectively imprints of B ...

, 2007. . * Newman, E., R. Simpson and Handschuh, David
"Trauma Exposure and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among Photojournalists."
''News Photographer'' 58(1): 4–13, 2003; ''Visual Communication Quarterly'' (Routledge), 10(1) 4–13, January 2003, . * Simpson, Roger and William Cote. ''Covering Violence: A Guide to Ethical Reporting About Victims of Trauma''. Columbia University Press, 2006. . * Simpson, Roger and Boggs, James, "An Exploratory Study of Traumatic Stress Among Newspaper Journalists"
Journalism and Communication Monographs

AEJMC The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) is a major international membership organization for academics in the field, offering regional and national conferences and refereed publications. It has numerous membersh ...

, Spring 1999.

External links

* {{Authority control American journalism organizations

History and programs

References

Further reading

External links