Trauma-informed Journalism

Lisa Krantz, NF ’20, on photographing the aftermath of mass shootings

The stoicism that reporters once mustered when covering tragedies is giving way to a new public candor

From the senior editor Hello, I had just started a new job covering the Pentagon when the Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. It was February of 2003,…

Trauma-informed reporting can help journalists better connect with sources dealing with grief, pain, and loss

The more I read about Tara Reade’s story, the less I know about her sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden. That’s a problem, not just for Reade but for every…

When I hear teachers or soldiers or ministers talk about what they do as a calling, I get it. Though the public may not believe it, journalists carry a similar…

I had increasingly intense visions of harming my wife.That’s not quite right. I had been having off-and-on images of violent events for years—seeing myself raped in prison or impaled during…

A survey of j-school professors and journalists emphasized the value of education and training in trauma reporting, with suggestions for how this learning can happen.

‘It’s just a totally different landscape when dealing with someone who’s been traumatized. They don’t know the rules, and what’s so essential in these interviews is to give the person…

An Essay in Words and Photographs