Reporting War

7/28/2019 Reporting War

1/36

by Sharon Schmicklewar

reporting


2/36

While scores o journalists were con ronting traumaand danger to cover the Iraq War, a group o seasonedveterans o such assignments took a brie break togather at Bretton Woods, N.H., and talk about theemotional challenges raised by their duties in the eld.

For two days, they engaged one another in rank, reewheeling ando ten personally cathartic discussions about human vulnerability as itrelates to the cra t o combat journalism.

In the end, these intense competitors agreed to share what they hadlearned with others who cover con ict. They concurred that journalistswho are equipped to care or themselves emotionally can stay in theeld longer, deliver more compelling reports and return home withewer problems.

Their recommendations in October 2005 launched a project whichculminated in publication o this handbook. The retreat and the hand-book are projects o the Dart Society, a group o journalists who supportsensitive coverage o trauma and care o those covering it.


3/36

reporting warby Sharon Schmickle


4/36

reporting warby Sharon Schmickle

A Dart Society Project

Editorial Coordinator: Meg SprattLayout/design: Adam Welch, Hemisphere Design

Cover photo: Baghdad, 2003. Scott Wallace

2007 Dart Center or Journalism & Trauma and the Dart Society.All rights reserved. You are welcome to copy or redistribute

this material in print or electronically, provided the text is notmodi ied, the Dart Center and the Dart Society are cited in any

use, and no ee is charged or copies o this booklet.

Dart Center or Journalism & TraumaDept. o Communication

102 Communications Bldg.Box 353740

University o WashingtonSeattle, WA 98195-3740 (USA)

www.dartcenter.org


5/36

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

C H A P T E R 1 The Stakes. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4

C H A P T E R 2 Getting Ready to Go. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 6

C H A P T E R 3 During the Assignment. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

C H A P T E R 4 Coming Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 14

C H A P T E R 5 For Editors. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

C H A P T E R 6 For Family & Friends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 24

Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 27

For More Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28


6/36

Newsroom clip les are packedwith stories about the traumathat can ollow con ict anddanger: the depression o

the U.S. Marine who hangedhimsel a ter a tour o dutyin Iraq, the ashbacks o theLiberian re ugee who hid

among dead bodies to avoidbeing shot, the insomnia o the UN peacekeeper whowitnessed the murders o

Timorese babies.What about the journalists who riskedtheir lives to cover the stories behindthe trauma? What is being done to

ease our normal, human responses todangerous assignments?

Military leaders are beginning tounderstand that they can boost troopsstrength and endurance by respondingto combat stress.

Its time or news organizations to dothe same.

Security training and protectivegear are essential preparations or

a dangerous assignment, combatreporters agree. Packing lists and othertip sheets are immensely help ul. Butnews organizations are not doingenough to shield reporters andphotographers until they also addresstrauma.

Introduction

2 | reporting war


7/36

Reporter Darrin Mortenson works as Marines stage outside o Nasiriyah in March, 2003.

photo by Hayne Palmour

reporting war | 3


8/36

Journalists who acceptdangerous assignments takeon more than a ew riskyweeks or months. They ace

dramatic and o ten permanentchanges in the way they seethemselves and their work.

Im looking back at the things I have

done with a certain amount o horror,says Dave Wood, who has coveredcon ict in Iraq, A ghanistan, Somalia,Kenya, Russia, China, East Germany,Nicaragua, the Philippines, Bosnia,Panama and Haiti.

I never particularly prepared, saysWood, now a reporter or the BaltimoreSun. I learned things by making stupidmistakes along the way. I I am anyexample, this kind o thing is badly

needed. I could have used it a longtime ago.

Bill Gentile de nes his li e today inlarge part through the prism o hisphoto coverage o con ict in LatinAmerica during the 1970s and 80s.

That will never go away, and I dontwant it to go away, says Gentile, whowas a photographer or UPI andNewsweek at the time and later workedas an independent documentary lm-maker while also teaching at AmericanUniversity in Washington D.C.

Hayne Palmour IV saw himsel and journalism in a whole new light a terhe photographed U.S. Marines throughthree tours in Iraq and a mission inSomalia. He worked or North County Times in San Diego County, Cali .

Our war reporting experience hasbecome our identity ... It changed us

The Stakes C H A P T E R 1

4 | reporting war


9/36

orever, Palmour says o himsel andthe other correspondents.

Gentile and Palmour struggled withgrie over allen colleagues and horrorover the sheer carnage they saw. Butthey also grew in wisdom about humannature, world a airs and their ownreservoirs o strength.

The critical question is whether thepositive can outweigh the negativeand better equip a correspondent togrow in new directions.

Our war reporting experiencehas become our identity ... Itchanged us orever.

Hayne Palmour

reporting war | 5


10/36

The time to start mental prepa-ration is well ahead o the dayyou board the plane. Unlessyoure abruptly dispatched on

a breaking story, you should:1) Weigh the pros and cons be ore youaccept the assignment. Be honest withyoursel . Is the appeal a love o dangerand the unknown? Is it ambition to

impress your editors? Most journalistswho dare to risk their lives share atleast a shred o each. But you will beseparated rom what normally mattersin li e. Ask yoursel whether thosemotives alone can sustain you throughthe terrible grind o sporadic earcoupled with the logistical difcultieso working in remote locations.

Altruistic motives a sense o jour-nalistic duty and a commitment to

covering the cause at issue can helporti y endurance.

Gentile worries that todays journal-ists are heading into harms waywithout the clear sense o mission thatdrove many o the correspondentswho covered the plight o CentralAmericans caught in a nightmare o bloody politics.

The people we should be most loyalto are not the people who send us ourchecks every two weeks, Gentile says.

They are the people who provide usthe raw material, who allow us intotheir homes and their hearts so that wecan practice this cra t, which is a realprivilege.

That ocus on ideals kept Gentile andhis contemporaries going even a tersome in their ranks were killed.

Make sure you understand your own

ocus and know whether you truly

Getting Ready To Go C H A P T E R 2

6 | reporting war


11/36

want the assignment. A clear ocus onyour goals also can provide reassuranceon the job and a sense o accomplish-ment a terwards.

2) Study and understand the nature o the risks you are taking. Your ear isntgoing to go away. Indeed, it shouldntbecause it spurs a healthy drive to staysa e. But you can make a certain peacewith it so that it doesnt paralyze andtraumatize you.

3) Tap the wisdom o experiencedcolleagues. Journalists are more e ec-tive on dangerous assignments whenthey learn to lean on each other.

Ive done a air bit o this line o work,i you will, going o to dangerousplaces over the years, and I must sayIve learned a lot rom other peoplesexperience, things that hadnt occurredto me, says Santiago Lyon, director o photography or the Associated Press.

The seasoned pro essionals you contacto ten will keep in touch, e ectively

serving on your personal support teamduring an assignment.

4) Try to email or phone other journal-ists already in the danger zone. Theyare in the best position to help withlogistical arrangements that can relieveyour stress on arrival. Ask them torecommend xers, drivers, reasonablysa e places to stay and local expertswho might be riend you.

I journalists arent available, contactrelie workers or UN sta operatingin the region. Such an on-the-groundnetwork is particularly important orreelancers. Dont be shy. Colleaguesin larger news organizations o ten arewilling to adopt reelancers.

5) Plan ahead or the needs o your amily and other loved ones. Acommon emotion among journal-ists under re is intense guilt or thestress back home. You cant erase youramilys worries or you or yours orthem. But you can lighten the burden.

reporting war | 7


12/36

Beyond wills and personal insurance,negotiate a precise agreement onwhat costs your employer will cover i you are disabled or killed. Will mentalhealth care be covered? How aboutthe cost o transporting a body home?Whats the exit strategy in case your li edepends on getting out, and what willyour newsroom pay? Make sure your

amily knows the details.6) Set up contact plans with editorsand loved ones. At least two editorsshould be designated to be availablearound the clock. They should agree

in advance on steps to be taken i you ail to check in as scheduled. TheCommittee to Protect Journalists spellsout a detailed contact plan on its website: www.cpj.org.

For your amily, try to arrange ameeting with an editor who can serveas the point o contact. In any event,make sure the editors know whomto contact your current partner, say,rather than your ex-spouse. Determine

in as much detail as possible how you

are going to be in touch and who willpay.

Judith Matlo , a Columbia Universitypro essor who has covered war andviolence across the globe, learned onlya ter tense weeks o covering con ictin Angola that her newsrooms policywas to pay or phone calls to spousesbut no one else. Matlo was single. Hadshe known about the policy in advance,she would have argued that she alsoneeded the com ort and reassurance o voices rom home.

7) Take time or a brie mental-healthprimer. Journalism is stress ul work under normal circumstances, and manycorrespondents trust the resilience thathas carried them through day-to-dayassignments. But experiencing trauma

can lead to burnout, chemical depen-dency and other problems. Someonewho was coping reasonably well athome can all over the edge in just daysor weeks on a dangerous assignment.

8 | reporting war


13/36

A young Iraqi boy and woman talk to Iraqi orces a ter they and others were ound hiding inan apartment in Fallujah in April, 2004.


reporting war | 9


14/36

Many correspondents nd,surprisingly, that anxietyabates once they arrive on thescene o an assignment and

get to work. Dont be ooled bythe relie . It likely is temporary.

Your sense o what is important will bechallenged, and that will take a toll onyour judgment over time, says AlissaRubin, who was a co-bureau chie inBaghdad or the Los Angeles Times be ore joining the New York Times Iraqteam.

People are pro essionals, Rubin says.People can write a daily story andthings will be ne. I think what youlose is the ability to step back and think more analytically.

The time to care or yoursel emotion-ally is be ore trauma gradually erodes

your ability to think clearly and deliveryour best work. Youll be tempted totough it out emotionally because thatsbeen an expectation in journalism.

I honestly thought that to do this jobwas part and parcel with trauma, andthat there was no healthy way ... that i you want to do this you were going tobecome an unhappy, lonely, trauma-tized person, says Hannah Allam, whowas Knight Ridders Baghdad BureauChie in 2005 and later covered theMiddle East or McClatchy News.

That seemed to be the experience o so many o my colleagues in Baghdad.And so I thought I want to get o thistrain. Im going to go cover eatures orsomething.

But there are healthy alternatives togetting o the train, Allam realizedlater, smart steps correspondents cantake to care or themselves.

During the Assignment C H A P T E R 3

10 | reporting war


15/36

Here are key steps toward morehealthy outcomes:

1) Execute the mental-health plan youset up in advance. Re resh your ocuson the reasons you decided to takethe risk. Establish contact with yournewsroom, home and network o other journalists. Stay in touch regularly.

2) I you are replacing correspondentsin the eld or joining others, takeadvantage o any overlap time toseek their advice. No question is toomundane. Knowing how to handlesmall day-to-day challenges can boostyour con dence in strange surround-ings and stress ul times.

3) Cultivate buddies. Colleagues yougrow to trust can help you let o steam,nd reasons to laugh in the ace o grimreality and monitor your decisions orany erosion in judgment. You can watchout or each others sa ety and decidetogether when its time to pull out.

Theres no ormula or deciding when toleave a hotspot. Its pure instinct, and

it is common to eel guilty a terwards,second-guessing your decision andworrying that you could have stayedlonger and accomplished more. Takinga gut-check with someone you trust cansave you tremendous anxiety later on.

Journalists who embed with themilitary, in particular, have oundimmense value in a buddy system. Theembedded reporter or photographercan be the odd-person out, targetedas an enemy by the other side but alsoseparated by pro essional distancerom the troops. You have to write on

every page o your notebook, Im notone o them, Dave Wood says.

In some tense situations, journalistshave elt threatened by the orces theyembedded with. Some journalists whostood their ground ultimately earnedrespect rom the troops. But it is crucialin such a situation to have a workableexit plan and to spell out in detail tobuddies in the eld and to editors back home whats happening.

reporting war | 11


16/36

4) With or without a buddy, try toollow these simple and e ective tipsor sel care:

Acknowledge what you are goingthrough.

Sleep and eat as well as possible andtake exercise.

I you cannot talk with someone youtrust, write down what you are eeling.

Take time to re ect. Find reasons to laugh. Take care with alcohol and other

drugs. Ask others or support along the way.

5) Allow yoursel some normal humanresponse. Sure you are a brave corre-spondent, but you also are a humanbeing with deep-seated emotions thatmay startle the journalist in you.

You are seeing the biggest o the bigissues, you are seeing places destroyed,people dead ... enormous emotion,Rubin says.

The hardest thing, she says, will beto go back and orth between your

response as a person and as a jour-nalist. A personal revulsion at the sighto mangled bodies, or example, willcollide with the journalistic need tocapture precisely the event you arecovering.

In the end, e ective journalists needthe emotional and intellectual ortitudeto do both. They need to eel their ownheartbreak or anger in order to conveythe ull measure o whats happeningbe ore their eyes. But they also need apro essional perspective.

You have to get really close andimmersed and eel it and have thisvisceral sense, Rubin says. And then(you need to) be able to step back andsay, OK, what does it really mean?

6) Back o when you sense serioustrauma taking hold. It is normal to eelsomewhat sad, jumpy and irritable ina dangerous setting. You might copevery well with the occasional sleeplessnight or upsetting memory. The timeor concern is when such eelings take

12 | reporting war


17/36

over your day-to-day emotions and youcant shake them.

It might happen a ter one traumaticevent say, a bombing scene. It mighthappen as a nal straw, where a re-ght you could have managed the daybe ore suddenly breaks you down.

Here are signs o acute stress:

Upsetting thoughts or memories thatyou cant shake

Upsetting dreams about an event Acting or eeling that the event is

happening again

Feeling upset by reminders o theevent

Physical reactions such as astheartbeat, stomach churning,sweatiness or dizziness

Sleep difculties Irritability or outbursts o anger Difculty concentrating Heightened awareness o danger Being jumpy or easily startled at

something unexpected

Theres no ormula or decidingwhen to leave a hotspot. Itspure instinct, and it is commonto eel guilty a terwards,

second-guessing your decision.

reporting war | 13


18/36

Youre on the plane headingtoward sa ety, eelingimmensely relieved to bephysically whole and dreaming

about that rst embrace withloved ones.

Surprisingly, this could be your mostvulnerable time. One military chap-lain described the vulnerability as

existential void, a sudden eeling o aimlessness and loss.

You have changed. But li e back homeprobably has not. Feelings that maysurprise and overwhelm you include:

Disappointment with attachmentsthat seem cold compared with theterrible intimacy o watching people,even strangers, bleed and die.

Frustration with riends who seemmore interested in trivial culturalevents than in global matters o warand peace.

Discom ort with material abundancethat stands in stark contrast to thedesperate need in other parts o theworld.

Alienation rom a amily that had tomake do without you. Your spouse maynot need your day-to-day help. Sexmay be difcult or a while. Childrenwill have changed and grown intodi erent people with di erent expecta-tions o adults.

A ter three tours in Iraq or the North

County Times, Darrin Mortenson sayshe elt like a pro essional outsider athome in Cali ornia. He longed or thesense o purpose he elt covering a war,and only when he began preparingor his next deployment did he eel li e

Coming Home C H A P T E R 4

14 | reporting war


19/36

coming together in a solid, coherentsense o purpose.

Gradually, Mortenson learned thehealing value o talking throughthe a termath with editors and withother journalists who had surviveddangerous assignments.

One common a tere ect the corre-

spondents shared is a pro ound senseo pro essional letdown.

There may never be another story inyour li e that grabs you as intensivelyas this one will, says Dana Hull who

covered the Iraq war or the San JoseMercury News. What are you goingto do a ter that or an encore? Beprepared to be disappointed with thestories that come a terward.

Many correspondents recommendstopping or a day or two on the wayhome, giving yoursel time to re ecton what youve been through andto decompress. But a solo stopoverisnt or everyone. Some eel a need

to plunge right away in amiliar,

structured activity. Some who areoverloaded with stress may need to bearound others.

This is a time to monitor yoursel or risk actors:

Feeling that you are out o control Feeling your li e is threatened Blaming others

Shame over your behavior Problems coping with day-to-day li e Excess use o alcohol or drugs

Above all, this is a time to tap thatsupport network once again. Make

time to talk to loved ones who knowhow to listen, the pros who have gonebe ore you and mental health expertswho can help you sort things out.

Robert Nickelsberg, a contract photog-

rapher or Time Magazine , spent 20years covering con ict around theworld. It wasnt until he came homeand talked with colleagues, he says,that he had the perspective to sort outwhat he had been through.

reporting war | 15


20/36

While you may look to be as indepen-dent as possible, it still is necessaryto be attached to a larger group,Nickelsberg says.

Photographers, in particular, have beenemotionally con ned by their silentway o explaining violence.

Its important or us as photographers

to verbalize things a little bit more than just turning in the lm and walkingaway rom it, Nickelsberg says.

But many reporters also struggle whenthey try to walk away emotionally.

The key or every correspondent is torespect the serious emotional chal-lenge that comes with a dangerousassignment and to meet the challengeby taking personal responsibility or

your own mental health. By makinga priority o good choices, you willincrease your probability o stayingsa e and delivering superior coverage.

Make time to talk to lovedones who know how to listen,the pros who have gonebe ore you and mental health

experts who can help you sortthings out.

16 | reporting war


21/36

Photographer Bill Gentile on operation with the Sandinista Popular Army, Nicaragua, 1985.

photo by Scott Wallace

reporting war | 17


22/36

In the sa ety o a newsroomthousands o miles rom acon ict scene, editors make

judgment calls that could easeanxiety or else push a corre-spondent over the edge.

Sit down with any group o veterancorrespondents and youll hear somevariation on these stories:

The editor o ten ignored time-zonedi erences and awakened stressed-out reporters in Baghdad to demandcopy changes.

The correspondents risked their livesto get into position in Fallujah andthen were ordered to cover somethingentirely di erent somewhere else.

The lonely, stressed-out reporter

called the newsroom rom

A ghanistan, only to be told that theeditors were too busy to talk.

Talk to some editors, though, and youhear an emerging sensitivity abouttheir responsibilities or the emotionalhealth o teams they have dispatchedto dangerous places.

Santiago Lyon, the AP photographydirector, has taken part in both sideso the conversation. A decade ago,when he was traveling on assignment,

awareness o mental-health needs waswoe ully limited in newsrooms. Nowthe media culture is changing, he says.

The Dart Center and concerned veteranwar correspondents have raised theconsciousness o the journalisticcommunity, Lyon said, and thats atremendously use ul thing. Whatsneeded next, he said, is or medialeaders to parlay the heightenedawareness into lasting change in

newsrooms.

For Editors C H A P T E R 5

18 | reporting war


23/36

Change is taking hold in Europe, saysMark Brayne, a BBC and Reuters corre-spondent be ore he became director o the Dart Centre in the UK.

This agenda is very new, Brayne says.Ten years ago it just wasnt on theconsciousness. When I was a correspon-dent, nobody ever thought o this, andnobody is to blame or that. There justwasnt any awareness. We simply didntknow what we didnt know. But therereally is a rapid shi t now. ... The lightsare going on.

One reason is that rst responders inother lines o work police, re andambulance crews increasingly aretrained in handling their own trauma.Recent lawsuits led in the UK haveclaimed that news organizations ailedto keep pace and take reasonable stepsto protect their workers.

The upshot is that a ormer sense o macho journalism is giving way to asmarter approach that is grounded inscienti c wisdom about trauma and its

costs to people and job per ormance. The value o trauma sensitivity iscatching hold, Brayne says, or bottom-line reasons, or quality reasons, orgood management reasons, or ethicalreasons, or moral reasons.

Consider the example o David Clark Scott, international news editor atthe Christian Science Monitor . He wasworking with reelancer Jill Carrollwhen she was kidnapped in Iraq in2006, and he played a key role on theMonitor team that secured her sa erelease.

Even be ore the kidnapping crisis,Scott had earned respect and a ec-tion rom correspondents who ledrom dangerous and highly emotional

settings. Working under tough dead-lines, he held tenaciously to the highestpro essional standards while alsotaking a deep interest in the personalwell-being o the correspondents.

I you sound tired on the phone, henotes it, Carroll says. I youve been

reporting war | 19


24/36

away rom your amily too long, heinsisted you get back home, Carroll says.

Scott never ailed to say Thank you.

a ter Carroll led a story, she says.In 2007, Scott was honored as the rstrecipient o the Dart Societys MimiAward, which recognizes exceptionalwork by an editor.

In that spirit, here are some concretesteps editors can take:

Be ore the Assignment

Editors and news organizations cantake the lead in preparations orcoverage o dangerous situations.

Negotiate a rm deal on exactly whatthe company will insure and whatcosts will be covered. Make sure the

correspondents and their amiliesunderstand the terms.

Initiate a contact plan withcorrespondents and also with theiramilies. Designate an editor and

backup editors to be available to listen

at all hours and to relay news to theamily, even word that everyone is sa e.

De ne expectations in advance. How

long is the assignment likely to last?How o ten are the correspondentsexpected to le stories and photos?How o ten should they check in?Emphasize that exibility is importantand plans could change, but at leastset a ramework o expectations.

Frankly discuss the risks, the securityplan and the need or protectiveequipment. Understand and discussthe limitations that may be imposedby security rules or by conditionson the ground. Clearly de ne limitso the risks the company considersacceptable or employees.

Train key editors and sta membersin trauma awareness. Issue periodicreminders or them to be alert orsymptoms o serious stress. Developroutine checks such as asking thecorrespondent whether its time totake a break or come home. Learn the

20 | reporting war


25/36

di erences between normal responsesto danger and true trouble signs.

I possible, plan to send at least one

editor to the danger zone duringa prolonged assignment. It can bereassuring or the correspondentswhile also improving communicationand providing a reality check or thenewsroom.

During the Assignment

Say thank you o ten and meanit. Be generous with praise andappreciation rom throughout the

news organization. Make the correspondents eel

connected with the newsroom.

Ask regularly about their health, howwell they are eating and sleeping andtheir state o mind.

Listen. Several o the correspondentsdescribed a deeply troubling psychicdisconnect with editors on the otherend o phone conversations. Bombs

could be going o in the distance,bodies bleeding on the ground andthe correspondent struggling toexpress the ull measure o the stress.But the multitasking editor too o tencould be heard typing while saying,

Umhuh, umhuh. OK. I have to get to ameeting.

Try to provide context to reporterswho may be isolated rom the news.

Tell how their reports t into the bigpicture o the story. This can ease theireeling o being cut o , reduce anxietythat they arent doing enough andalso inspire more ideas about howthey can contribute.

Be mind ul o time zones. I you wakea reporter in the middle o the nightasking or more copy on a grisly story,bear in mind that you probably haveended any chance or sleep that night.

Network with the correspondentsbuddies and colleagues in the eldso that a concerned riend will have

reporting war | 21


26/36

a basis or alerting you about troublesigns.

A ter the Assignment

Some newsrooms are setting uphomecoming routines. They sendwelcoming committees to the airport,stage luncheons and schedule appear-ances be ore sta groups. Whatever the

routine, the key is to be generous withpraise.

Additional Steps

1) Formal debrie ng. Discuss whatwent well and what did not. Watchor signals o the journalists overallresponse to the assignment. Thisconversation is about journalism, but italso is a time when you may see subtlesigns o lingering trauma. Here are

some tips or structuring the conversa-tion.

Discuss the acts o what happenedon an assignment, allowing time orcorrespondents to think through

the what, where, when and how. Be

care ul, though, about getting intowhy something happened. Keepquestions open ended. What didthey like or not like? What did theynd rustrating? What could the desk have done better? What was the mostdifcult?

Discuss the impact o the events,the correspondents thoughts andeelings at the time. Dont say youknow how they eel. Listen and allowtime or the reporter or photographerto think and talk.

Discuss the impact now. What are youdoing? How are you eeling?

Discuss the normal responses. Watchor signs o stress.

2) O er mental health bene ts, but

dont insist. Even i the answer is no,think o this as the beginning o aconversation you should have again ina ew weeks.

3) Try to come up with a plan or

easing and enriching the transition to

22 | reporting war


27/36

a lower gear. A letdown is commona ter a dangerous and intense assign-ment. It can lead to depression, abusivebehavior, lethargy on the job and otherproblems. But it doesnt have to. O ertime o a ter the debrie ng, but dontinsist on it. Some journalists do betterwhen they continue to work, albeit onlighter projects.

4) Encourage and sponsor get-togethers with others who haveworked in danger zones allow timeo or retreats and send the correspon-dents to con erences where they willhave a chance to meet others withsimilar experiences.

Signs to watch or:

Someone is no longer himsel orhersel

They might shut themselves away, ortake the opposite approach and talk constantly about the experience

They might be unusually irritable andangry

They may talk o eeling guilty orcon used

They may be more accident prone They might be sick a lot, or late or

work or miss deadlines They might be obsessive about work Lack o interest and concentration

reporting war | 23


28/36

One o the single most e ec-tive things amily members andriends can do to ease the stresson a correspondent is to careor themselves emotionally.

Worry and guilt over loved ones le tbehind is a constant stress or journal-ists who ace danger ar rom home.

Hannah Allam says that she struggledwith her isolation rom amily membersand riends while she was in Baghdad.

I wish I had known up ront more aboutthe changes to expect in mysel , shesays. I thought, Well, this would be an

adventure and its been a li es dream,and Id go o and do it and then Idcome back and settle into my normalli e. I ound that was not the experienceat all.

1) Be ore the assignment begins, takean active role in helping to line upnancial documents, update the willand negotiate insurance bene ts withthe news organization. I possible, goto the newsroom and meet the editorswho will be your chie contacts. In anyevent, make sure you know how toreach them.

2) During the assignment, many o themental-health tips or the correspon-dent also are smart strategies or lovedones at home.

Exercise, healthy eating andmoderation with alcohol areimportant.

Line up a support network and use ito ten.

Find reasons to laugh indeed, createthem. One spouse got through amission by emailing stupid jokes to

her husband; it helped them both.

For Family & Friends C H A P T E R 6

24 | reporting war

A h h d Si l li i b i


29/36

Another sent photos every ew days o the amily dog clowning it up.

Be mind ul that loved ones who are

not at a hazardous scene can absorbthe trauma when they hear aboutit a lot. Monitor yoursel or signs o trauma or stress overload.

Take time to re ect on what you are

going through, and talk it over withtrusted riends or with experts.

3) A ter the initial joy o the home-coming, be prepared or a rockyadjustment period. It doesnt always

happen, but many returning correspon-dents eel let down and rustrated oncethey are home. This is a vulnerable timeor depression, acute anxiety and evenpost-traumatic stress disorder. Try toamiliarize yoursel with the symptoms

o those conditions (see www.dart-center.org). Talk to your amily doctor orother experts i you think pro essionalhelp may be needed.

Simple listening can be a constructiveorm o support a ter the assignment.Here are a ew tips or good listening.

Do:

Actively listen Focus on THEM Ask open-ended questions Paraphrase what youve heard

Re ect back/summarize Take time and space Use supportive body language Keep quiet. Listen more. Speak less.

Dont:

Dig around in eelings Invalidate the experience Interrogate Say you know how they eel Respond with your own experience

Say it could have been worse Use inappropriate humor Try to x them too early

When in doubt, do less.

reporting war | 25


30/36

In the end, everyone connectedwith an assignment has a stakeand a role in understanding thenormal e ects o working indangerous conditions.

There will be days when you wontknow how to si t things out yourrelationships at home with amily,husbands, girl riends, boy riends, says

Alissa Rubin. It takes you, and you haveto give it everything that you have got.Be prepared or the loss that may comewith that. It will take a while to recovera terwards.

Everyone also has a stake in a positiveoutcome that can preserve relation-ships at home while also keepingtop-notch journalists serving readers,viewers and listeners through tumul-tuous world events.

Journalists can improve their chanceso achieving those goals by takingresponsibility or the health o thosewho practice the cra t and by engagingeach other in more conversations ashappened during the retreat.

Reporter Darrin Mortenson sums it thisway: There will be successes and therewill be ailures. I will always wonderabout some things. I will always eelguilty about some things ... It is reallyhelp ul to me to see that everyone herecan go through that and still eel aspassionate about their work and stillcome back to the same undamentals,the same reasons why they still want todo this work and put themselves at risk.

Conclusion

26 | reporting war


31/36

Sharon Schmickle has reported rom22 countries most recently Egypt,A ghanistan, Thailand and Iraq, whereshe was embedded with the U.S.Marines during the invasion in 2003.She has worked or the MinneapolisStar Tribune and the online publicationMinnPost.com.

Her journalism awards include: PulitzerPrize nalist in 1996, National PressClubs Washington Correspondent o the Year in 1996, Overseas Press Clubo America rst place award in 1994and six rst place awards rom theMinnesota Associated Press. In 2007,she was the reporter or Star Tribune coverage o Liberians, which won anEditor & Publisher EPpy Award or online journalism.

This handbook is in ormed most o all by journalists

who have given their lives covering con ict.My amily has been a source o constant encourage-ment even through assignments that caused anxiety at home.

This project was organized by Dart Society President Penny Cockerell and Bruce Shapiro, Executive

Director o the Dart Center or Journalism & Trauma.Dart staf and Society members were instrumental incompleting the report.

About the Author

reporting war | 27


32/36

A sel -study course and actsheets on the trauma and journalism are available romthe Dart Center and theafliated Dart Society. Furtherresources are available at theweb site o the InternationalSociety or Traumatic StressStudies.

DartCenter.orgDartSociety.orgISTSS.org

Participants in the Bretton Woods

War Reporting Retreat (a liation aso October, 2005):

Hannah Allam , ormer Knight RidderBaghdad bureau chie ; Gina Cavallaro ,

Army Timesreporter; Bill Gentile , indepen-

dent journalist and visual documentarian;Dana Hull , San Jose Mercury News reporter;Santiago Lyon , director o photographyor the Associated Press; Judith Matlo ,

Columbia University Graduate School o Journalism pro essor; Darrin Mortenson ,North County Times reporter; RobertNickelsberg , contract photographer, TimeMagazine ; Hayne Palmour , North County Times photographer; Alissa Rubin , Los Angeles Times co-bureau chie in Baghdad;Sharon Schmickle , Minneapolis Star Tribune international correspondent; Scott Wallace ,reelance correspondent, photographer,

producer; David Wood , military writer,Newhouse News . From the Dart Centerand Dart Society: Mark Brayne , Penny

Cockerell , Frank Ochberg , Bruce Shapiro .

For More Information

28 | reporting war


33/36

Back row (l-r): Bruce Shapiro, Dana Hull, Santiago Lyon, Mark Brayne, Darrin Mortenson,Scott Wallace, Frank Ochberg, Bill Gentile, Robert Nickelsberg, Penny Cockerell;Center row,seated (l-r): Gina Cavallaro, Judith Matlo , Alissa Rubin, Hannah Allam, Sharon Schmickle;Front row, on foor (l-r): Hayne Palmour, Dave Wood


reporting war | 29


34/36

The Dart Center or Journalism &Trauma , based at the University o Washington, is a resource center orstudents, educators, journalists and

news organizations interested in theintersection o journalism and traumaissues. The Dart Center recognizes andencourages excellence in reporting onvictims o violence and trains journal-ists on issues o trauma in collaboration

with the International Society or Traumatic Stress Studies.

The Dart Society is a cohort o journal-ists who have received ellowshipsand awards rom the Dart Center. Weare dedicated to promoting sensitive

coverage o victims o violence andproviding support or journalists whoare a ected by their work.

the

Dart Society

30 | reporting war


35/36


36/36

the

Dart Society

dartsociety.org dartcenter.org

Reporting War

Documents

Transcript of Reporting War