When major events occur in our digital age, the public can offer as much valuable information as professional journalists do. In Pakistan, for example, citizens have been contributing reports on the latest flooding disaster through cell phones to the Pakistani citizen journalism service SeenReport.com.
In the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, news bureaus and wire services are reassessing how to keep their offices efficient through crisis and best communicate with journalists in the field in disaster areas.
Poynter’s News University has made a list of resources available for journalists traveling to Haiti or looking for the local angle to cover the news about the country's devastating earthquake.
Nieman Reports, part of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, has published a comprehensive resource for journalists about coverage of a pandemic flu, available at http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/newsitem.aspx?id=100114.
6/27/08by Anne Nelson, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and Dr. Daniel Nelson, MD, University of Cincinnati
Journalists who are exposed to catastrophe may themselves develop symptoms of primary trauma, through experiencing or witnessing disastrous events, or losing someone close to them.
1) Do they know their subject? If the answer is no, consider sending your reporters to seminars that help them to understand the subject of the story or, bring experts into the newsroom to conduct a lunch-time discussion.
