Editors Note: Reporters are welcome to attend and cover this event, which is not public. For reservations call Meg Moritz at (303) 492-1610 or Beth Gaeddert at (303) 492-0460.
In an effort to give students training in conducting sensitive and emotional interviews, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at CU-Boulder is instituting classroom training sessions on how to report about trauma.
A first step in this process will be a faculty workshop on "Journalism and Trauma Training" to be held Friday, Sept. 14, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Armory, 1511 University Ave., room 218.
The workshop will be conducted by Roger Simpson, director of the Dart Program for Journalism and Trauma at the University of Washington. A leading national expert in the field, Simpson's research has shown that up to 98 percent of journalists report being exposed to at least one story in which someone was killed or seriously hurt.
"Unfortunately, this happens to some of our student interns every semester, at newspapers and television stations," said Meg Moritz, associate dean, who attended a recent Dart presentation for Hearst newspaper reporters and editors. CU-Boulder's School of Journalism and Mass Communication is one of five schools in the United States that are part of the Dart program.
CU-Boulder students often take internships or work part-time at media outlets in Colorado and around the nation. The students are often asked to cover stories involving horrific deaths, including traffic accidents, drownings and murders. Many of these students say they typically do not get advice from their editors about what to expect at the scene or how to handle interviews.
"The newsgathering faculty decided last spring to include this training in our courses. We believe that it can help make our reporting classes far more effective in teaching students about the realities of covering the news," she said.
Simpson works with Migael Scherer and Jim Boggs on the presentations. Scherer is both a journalism instructor and the subject of many news stories involving her rape in Seattle. Her book, "Still Loved by the Sun: A Rape Survivor's Journal" (1992) won a PEN/Albrand Citation for distinguished non-fiction.
Boggs is an actor who is finishing his doctorate in the theater department at UW. Boggs, Simpson and Scherer bring student actors into reporting classes where they play out various scenarios involving news stories. In one scenario Boggs and another actor play the part of a witness and a relative in a fire where three people die. According to Moritz it is an effective and realistic exercise.
For more background information on covering trauma and violence and what is being done by the Dart Center, visit the Web site at .