2025.Mar.18

REPORTS

Report on the Trauma Reporting Study Group for 2024

In the 2024 academic year, the Trauma Reporting Study Group held two public lectures in addition to its regular book club meetings.

For the 23rd session, we discussed Chapter 12 of Trauma Reporting: A Journalist’s Guide to Covering Sensitive Stories by Jo Healey, marking the completion of our book club meetings for this text.

The 24th session featured a public lecture, How South Korean Journalists Began Speaking About Trauma, held both in person and via online broadcast (with consecutive interpretation provided and a video recording available afterward). The speaker was Chong-ae Lee, a reporter for the commercial broadcaster Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) and chairperson of the Journalist Trauma Committee in South Korea. This committee, a joint task force established by three news industry associations, published its first guidebook in 2023 with the guidance of specialists.

Chong-ae Lee previously led a news program around the year 2000. Covering cases of sexual abuse of children led her to reflect on the role of journalism in trauma reporting, leading her to pursue graduate studies at night and later become a fellow at the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma. A significant turning point in South Korean journalism came in 2014 with the sinking of the MV Sewol. The tragic loss of numerous high school students brought national attention to trauma reporting. At the same time, the fierce competition among media outlets was criticized. This prompted journalists and bereaved families to engage in dialogue, listen to each other’s stories, and hold workshops with experts to explore better approaches. A system was also established to provide broadcast journalists with trauma reporting training at the Dart Center Asia Pacific in Australia once every four years.

In recent years, increasing political tensions in South Korea have led to a rise in violence and online attacks against journalists, a concern that also drew significant discussion among participants.

The 25th session continued with an online talk titled Trauma Reporting: Exploring Sensitive Working Practices for Journalists When Interviewing Victims and Survivors by Jo Healey (consecutive interpretation was provided, no post-event viewing was available). She is a British journalist and the author of Trauma Reporting, the book our study group has been reading.

She realized from her own reporting experience the importance of reporters learning about trauma and acting appropriately, and while at the public broadcaster BBC, she developed a training program on Trauma and Journalism informed by insights from experts, senior journalists, and trauma-affected interviewees. Now independent, she provides training to journalists and university students in various countries and works with international organizations and human rights activists. Her slogan is: Do your job, do it well, do no harm.

During the lecture, she outlined six key principles, including integrity, and shared fundamental yet crucial insights—such as the fact that no two victims are the same and that peer support among journalists is essential. Using firsthand accounts from interviewees, she conveyed these ideas in a clear and accessible manner.

Approximately 150 people registered for both lectures, drawing a diverse audience that included journalists, students, researchers, psychiatrists, psychologists, and individuals who have been interviewed about traumatic experiences. The Q&A sessions were highly engaged, with questions continuing uninterrupted.

For the 26th meeting, we reflected on the insights gained from the two lectures, discussing what is needed for the future of trauma reporting in Japan and how our study group should move forward. Based on these discussions, we formulated an activity plan for the new fiscal year.

In the 2025 academic year, we plan to continue our research, aiming to hold a symposium at the end of the year.