June 15, 2004
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The Energy Beat: Complex and Compelling
To a journalist’s ear, the words “energy” and “crisis” belong together, in part because coverage of energy issues has been fueled largely by episodic coverage of difficulties people confront when sources of energy diminish—such as gasoline price hikes and shortages—or they vanish, as in electricity blackouts. To some degree this approach is changing as better-trained journalists pursue stories about energy and keep watchful eyes on a wider range of critical energy issues. – Melissa Ludtke, Editor
Much of what we have learned, and of what we teach, is included in the book I co-wrote with William Coté of Michigan State University called “Covering Violence: A Guide to Ethical Reporting about Victims and Trauma,” published by Columbia University Press. We are revising the book to update our sense of how to apply knowledge about trauma to the ever-changing terrain of news practices. Our Web site (www.dartcenter.org) is a robust forum for ideas about the conjunction of trauma and journalism. And each year we give the Dart Award for excellence in reporting on victims of violence, our way of honoring those journalists who do understand trauma and who accurately and usefully plow that knowledge back into the reporting that captures the essence of enduring and surviving violence.
The Energy Beat: Complex and Compelling
To a journalist’s ear, the words “energy” and “crisis” belong together, in part because coverage of energy issues has been fueled largely by episodic coverage of difficulties people confront when sources of energy diminish—such as gasoline price hikes and shortages—or they vanish, as in electricity blackouts. To some degree this approach is changing as better-trained journalists pursue stories about energy and keep watchful eyes on a wider range of critical energy issues. – Melissa Ludtke, Editor
