Education or Misinformation? The Process of Reporting

An NPR article detailing the crimes of physicians was published online September 25th, 2018.

It’s important to be able to grasp the nature of these violent and criminal acts; however, there was nothing to allude to, no mention of when these occurred or the names of these physicians. One part of the article describes how some immigrants were potentially exposed to contagious diseases, but there isn’t any information on what those diseases could be, where these immigrants are from, or how it affects themselves or their community.

There is a difference between educating earnest readers on a topic and repeating similar content over and over so that it traumatizes or triggers somebody with similar lived experience. Often times, a journalist’s goal is to simply report, even when there is action yet to be done, and they have to remain on the sidelines because of the ethics and emotional boundaries of the occupation. However, a journalist’s choices in how they report such events are actions themselves, and this author’s diction and overall tone within this article seems to reflect detachment. Such expressions could be expressed this way for a number of reasons, and the nature of this report raises a question: how do journalists cope with documenting events that could a) incite secondary trauma or b) incite the revitalization of their own trauma? What types of resources are provided for the journalism community?