Covering Tragedy Taking Toll on Journalists

For months after witnessing the plane crash into the Pentagon on 9/11 — and immediately springing into action to cover the story — Mike Walter was plagued by repeated nightmares. Walter, a former WUSA Washington anchor who, at that time, was working as a USA Today video reporter, grew increasingly depressed, becoming distant at home. His boss took note of the change, and offered counseling. “This is something you can’t medicate,” Walter says. It took him nearly a year to recognize his problems as symptoms of PTSD. He served as a fellow at Columbia University’s Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma, which is dedicated to helping journalists cover traumatic situations — and maintain their resiliency for doing so. Broadcast journalists, with whom the Dart Center works regularly, are being hit particularly hard, as the immediacy of providing wall-to-wall coverage, multiplatform reporting and stiff competition that now comes with covering traumatic events makes thoughtful, accurate reporting more difficult than ever. Bruce Shapiro, the Dart Center’s executive director, says both sides of the “journalism & trauma” equation are intertwined, as reporters suffer from the impact of ethical decisions or mistakes they make while covering traumatic events — or simply witnessing them, he says.