Reporting on trauma is painful and complex

I’m offering to train you on how to embark on such stories sensitively.

Journalism is too opaque and misunderstood. Chills gives a behind-the-scenes look at how dangerous investigative journalism gets made. 

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Reporting on the violence experienced by displaced Syrians at Jordan’s Zaatari refugee camp.

There’s an old story that gets passed around among us media types about a journalist walking into a refugee camp and shouting, “Has anyone here been raped?” I’ve been told it’s true, which doesn’t surprise me in the least.

I’ve witnessed a journalist callously shoving around the meager belongings of a torture survivor so they could get the photo they wanted. I’ve followed, accidentally, in the trail of a well-known journalist who’d so badly retraumatized the young survivor I’d been supposed to interview that the girl would no longer speak to reporters.

My guiding principle as a journalist has always echoed that of doctors: “first do no harm.” And that particularly applies when reporting on sexualized violence, war, violence and trauma, which I’ve been doing explicitly for more than a dozen years in my two-decade career.

I’ve been to J-school (Columbia) and I teach at a J-school (NYU). And while both provide invaluable knowledge and experience, I’ve yet to see a course on offer that specifically trains new journalists in what I think of as “trauma journalism,” which is very different from other types of reporting.

I’m offering one-on-one (or small group) training to help you learn how to navigate this tricky kind of reporting, as well as training in general journalism as needed. I’ve previously trained journalists from major magazines and news outlets. I can also help you with how to report in refugee areas and war zones. And, if I can, I will help you find sources as well. My fee is negotiable.

Here are a few endorsements from previous journalists I’ve trained:

“The workshop with Lauren was very helpful to get specific tips with concrete examples on how to navigate delicate situations with more tools to ensure the well-being of the sources and the reporters.”

“It’s so helpful to learn about such specific reporting from someone with experience, since starting straight away with what they teach you in university might cause quite some harm.” 

“I believe the training prepared us better to conduct our investigation. It’s always good to be reminded of your ethics as a journalist, how to take care of yourself mentally, and protect yourself and your sources throughout your work.”

You are dealing with people who are emotionally, and possibly physically, wounded; you are possibly traumatizing yourself. There are risks involved in what you are doing — not just in terms of potentially hurting your source, but also their families and friends, as well as yourself.

An example of something we would discuss before you embark on a story:

Don’t think that dissembling, confusion, or a lack of precision in memories on the part of a survivor indicates lying. Traumatized people may not tell their story in a linear way. While this can be frustrating as you try to establish a timeline of events, recognize that this is basically beyond your control. Pushing a traumatized survivor to tell things a certain way can result in them clamming up or being retraumatizated. Study up on the effects of trauma on memory. Along those same lines, let your source lead the telling, but also reroute back to the details you need to gather in order to tell the story.

If interested, please reach out for more information. I love this profession, and I am invested in doing everything I can to help my colleagues to learn and grow, as I continue to grow myself. Thank you all for reading, as always.

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On Chills, there are no ads, and no outside influences because of it. This is a subscriber-supported space that gives a behind-the-scenes look at how risky investigative journalism gets made, from a journalist with 20 years of experience. Read Chills for free, or subscribe for bonus content like this. You can sign up here. Thank you for supporting independent journalism.