How to Avoid Re-traumatizing Survivors

Hannah Pridemore
 

hp138016@ohio.edu

 

Covering protests aren't always as cut and dry as they may seem. While some are peaceful and uneventful, others can quickly devolve into violence as the point of the protest is lost. Either way, when reporting on a protest background knowledge is essential. Your audience obviously needs to know why the protests are happening, but how do you do that without retraumatizing victims and survivors.

Re-traumatization happens when survivors are exposed to what traumatized them in the first place. 

 

This is common in the criminal justice system when survivors retell their stories or testify on the stand. Even being where the act happened or seeing an attacker can re-traumatize a person. This article dives into the specifics and this article discusses how to support trauma survivors without adding to the trauma.

 

Picture source: https://curascriptsd.com/Newsroom/infographic-ptsd2

 

While the news needs to be discussed, how do you cover the details of movements like #MeToo, another senseless death of a person of color, or another mass shooting without hurting those who survived it?

 

All of the facts have to be presented, but that doesn't mean you can't do it without some sense of compassion. Give warnings, be careful about your word choice, and don't beat a dead horse. If there's nothing more to report on, it might not be best to run multiple stories saying the exact same thing.

Familiarize yourself with ways to discuss tragedy and be empathetic. While empathy isn't always discussed when teaching the ethics of journalism, you are first and foremost a person, and the people you are writing stories about are also people. Understand that your words can have a great impact on survivors and of course be as unbiased as possible when discussing what happened. No one deserves to be traumatized and it is not your job to make the situation worse than it already is for them.

 

When you cover the protest itself, actually interact with the people there. Don't observe from a distance and assume what's happening, get on the ground and let the people speak. Nothing is worse than a journalist putting words in the mouths of protesters. They're there for a reason, let them speak their minds, and don't try to apply too much meaning to it if you're not well-versed on the subject. It's as simple as that.