To celebrate our 2016 centennial, the Pulitzer Prizes partnered with America’s state and territorial humanities councils as part of the Pulitzer Campfires Initiative. Each participating council took up the challenge in its own way.
Media Ethics students at University of Central Oklahoma reported on a Campfire event that brought Pulitzer Prize winners to their campus. Titled 'The Culture of Trauma Coverage Before and After the Internet,' the panel discussion dealt with the effects of covering distressing news events on the personal lives of the panelists their colleagues.
The Pulitzer Prize is celebrating its Centennial by remembering the past prize winners who had an impact on the world with their journalism, letters, drama and music.
At the University of Central Oklahoma, we had the opportunity to commemorate the centennial in a different way — by acknowledging the trauma journalists face when reporting tragedies. We learned journalists often are sacrificing their safety and peace of mind in order to bring us the heartbreaking stories of events happening all over the world.
One great example of bravery for the sake of journalism is Don Barletti, the 2003 Pulitzer Prize winner for capturing images of Central American children making the dangerous journey to the United States. Many news organizations are awarded Pulitzer Prizes for coverage during tragedy and disaster because they bring to readers a raw image or story that has an impact. Trauma coverage by journalists also has a profound emotional effect on them, and it is important to address and research the impact to reduce suffering.
Barletti, of the Los Angeles Times, was the Pulitzer winner for feature photography and rightfully so. The images he captured tell the story of children yearning to reunite with their mothers who left everything in their Central American homes to work in the United States to provide for their children. Barletti embarked on the long and often deadly journey that these children make alone to the United States on top of trains. Illegal immigration can often be a misunderstood subject among Americans who don’t face the same struggles as Central Americans, but Barletti’s images bring the story to life and speak for themselves. The photographer saw poverty, abandoned children and deaths on the children’s journeys. The toll that this time of reality can have on someone like Barletti is obvious because he was experiencing the tragedy firsthand.
At the Pulitzer Prize Centennial panel, journalists, researchers and a newsroom director shared their insights on trauma coverage. They offered solutions such as therapy, days off after coverage of traumatic events and peer support in order to alleviate those who are deeply affected. Barletti, Anthony Shadid, James Foley and countless other journalists risked their lives, and as the panel members suggested, they often do not recognize the toll their reporting takes on them. The telling of the traumatic stories happening in the world is necessary, but at the cost of journalists’ peace of mind and sometimes their lives.
I think the topic of trauma coverage and how it affects journalists is ground-breaking because it goes hand in hand with victims’ experiences of devastating events. Trauma coverage is often seen as just part of the job, but emotional distress can deeply affect journalists. It is their employer’s responsibility to assist them at all costs. If employers begin to acknowledge the toll of trauma coverage and develop a source of relief, the journalists who contribute great stories that result in Pulitzer Prizes will be enriched.