9 Belfast hosts #donoharmjournalism conference


By Angelina Fusco Journalists are quick to highlight other people’s wrongdoing, holding individuals and organisations to account, and rightly so. I certainly did that in my role as editor of BBC Newsline in BBC Northern Ireland. However, I believe journalists take little responsibility for their actions when it comes to dealing with those who have experienced traumatic events – caused by humans or the force of nature. The recent Kerslake report (https://bit.ly/ 2MIe55z) into the Manchester bombing shone a light on unethical practices by many in the journalism family but generally we sweep these criticisms under the carpet by telling ourselves we don’t do that – it’s always someone else. Every journalist is guilty at one time or another


of producing a story without fully considering the impact on victims. I experienced it in my 30+ years of working through the Troubles of NI in the BBC and the Irish News. How many of us returned to those victims to ask if we had anything to learn or if we had caused any harm? Having been awarded an Ochberg Fellowship


by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma in 2012 (www.dartcenter.org), I felt it was important to start a discussion about the issue of trauma and journalists’ responsibilities to others and to themselves. I have delivered workshops on the topic for journalists abroad but always wanted to hold one at home in Belfast. An opportunity arose when the Dart Centre


Europe’s psychologist Gill Moreton visited Belfast in June, and we organised a unique #donoharmjournalism conference at the splendid Duncairn Centre in North Belfast. The conference was made possible thanks to financial support from the Belfast and District and Derry and North West branches of the NUJ; Dart Centre, Europe; Channel56/Visionworks; WAVE; QUB. The workshop sessions included an


introduction to the facts and impact of trauma, mental and physical; a discussion about how to interview more ethically those who have experienced trauma, which is more challenging than interviewing the powerful but it isn’t something journalists are taught in colleges or in workplaces; the sharing of proposed new guidelines that the media might use when interviewing victims, survivors and whistle- blowers which are being produced by QUB and journalist/author Susan McKay, with input from the Dart Centre; and how journalists can protect


Journalist Susan McKay and event organiser Angelina Fusco


themselves when the demands are so great and how they can build resilience. The most impactful session was on


interviewing vulnerable people, when three victims of the Troubles, Paul Gallagher, Shauna Moreland and Rev David Clements, all members of the WAVE organisation, shared personal stories about positive and negative treatment by media.


It is important to note that this workshop was


not solely Troubles-related but addressed how to deal with any trauma, tragedy or natural disaster. The facilitators also tried to address some of the issues of those working in news organisations, freelances and independent productions. To be honest, it was disappointing that fewer than 30 people attended, but that underlines how rare the opportunity to talk about these important issues has been up to now. Many journalists are not aware that there are better ways of working which respect both the vulnerability of contributors and the demands of good journalism. That is starting to shift. I was encouraged by the feedback which was very positive.The only criticism was that the session had been too short and that any future #donoharmjournalism conference should run for a full day. I hope the NUJ and other organisations will consider funding more regular events across Ireland. A short video of the event can be found at https://bit.ly/2nU8laV


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