For more than three decades, Michèle Anderson worked on the front lines of sex trafficking in Toronto, supporting victims and survivors through her role at a local non-profit organization.

Michèle speaks with Tamara about her experiences supporting survivors in their interactions with the media, her own interactions with the media, and the impact she saw the media have on survivors throughout the years. While Michèle speaks mostly about the harm that she has experienced and witnessed from the media, she also talks about the potential benefit that can come from survivors sharing their stories publicly.

“I think there are ways and pathways forward where it can be done in a very thoughtful, mindful, meaningful, supportive way,” Michèle says.

Though retired, Michèle remains a fierce advocate for sex trafficking survivors, including for their “right to be forgotten,” which she speaks about in this episode. She discusses the importance of consent when writing about the trauma of others and providing agency in the ways in which their stories are collected and shared.

As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.

This conversation was recorded in March 2024.

For more trauma-informed storytelling resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.

It was during the pandemic, and all the stressful stories that came along with it, that Dave Seglins was assigned a story about a historical child murder case. And he couldn’t do it.

By this point, Dave knew a thing or two about his mental health. Years earlier, he had been diagnosed with PTSD following his coverage of a trauma-filled court case. And in that moment that he was assigned that historical child murder case, he knew he didn’t have the capacity. The reaction from his boss, he recalls, was that Dave wasn’t allowed to refuse an assignment and that if he couldn’t handle it, perhaps he should be in a different job.

“The words were, ‘This is not the way it’s supposed to work.’ And I reflected on that and I said, ‘You know what? This is exactly how it’s supposed to work. I’m a 25-year veteran who’s been through the wringer. I know what PTSD is. If I’m in the height of stress and I can’t put up my hand, you know, as a senior white guy in the newsroom with a secure, union-protected job, who can?’”

That experience inspired Dave’s crusade to create safer and healthier workplaces for journalists across the country.

In this conversation, the investigative journalist and self-described Well-Being Champion speaks with Tamara about the “trauma load” experienced by many journalists and his efforts to make things better, not only for his colleagues at Canada’s public broadcaster, but for journalists across the country. When he’s not reporting and hosting shows for CBC, Dave is focused on research, advocacy, training and building better supports to enhance mental health and well-being within the industry. He was the co-lead of a national Take Care Survey, which studied the well-being of more than 1,200 journalists across Canada, and holds certificates in Global Mental Health and Trauma and Mental Health First Aid.

Resources:

Taking Care Report

As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.

This conversation was recorded in November 2023.

For more trauma-informed storytelling resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.

Dr. Anthony Feinstein is a world-renowned psychiatrist who has spent much of his career studying the impact of trauma on journalists who work in war zones and under oppressive regimes. He is also the person who first introduced Tamara to the term “moral injury.”

In this episode, Dr. Feinstein discusses the concept of moral injury as it pertains to local news reporters, along with the responsibility of journalists and newsroom managers to ensure victims and survivors of traumatic events are handled in an ethical, trauma-informed way.

“In my profession, in medicine, the cardinal rule is doctor do no harm. And I think you have to bring that same lens to what you do as well,” Dr. Feinstein says of approaching victims and survivors in the immediate aftermath of traumatic events. “Because in that particular moment, you are getting that person at their most vulnerable, at a moment of overwhelming trauma.”

In illustrating the impact of photojournalism on trauma survivors, Dr. Feinstein refers to the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken by an amateur photographer in the aftermath of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and how harmful that iconic photo was for the family of the baby whose body was featured in the image. “Every time this woman sees the photograph, it reminds her of what happened,” he says. “From a trauma perspective, that’s a very difficult situation to deal with. So if you can prevent that, if you can lessen that, for me, that becomes a priority, not the Pulitzer photograph.”

Dr. Feinstein also discusses to the shame and guilt that most often accompany moral injury, sometimes alongside anger, disgust and contempt. He discusses how moral injury suffered by journalists can impact their journalism, and how newsroom managers can measure the risk of moral injury through the use of the Toronto Moral Injury Scale for Journalists.

Dr. Feinstein’s latest book, Moral Courage: 19 Profiles of Investigative Journalists, presents moral courage as the antidote to moral injury. All royalties from the sale of Moral Courage go toward covering the cost of therapy for freelance journalists.

Resources:

Moral Courage: 19 Profiles of Investigative Journalists

Dr. Feinstein’s series on Moral Courage for The Globe and Mail

Witnessing images of extreme violence: a psychological study of journalists in the newsroom

Trauma Assistance Fund for Freelancers

As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.

This conversation was recorded in March 2024.

For more trauma-informed storytelling resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.

In the near quarter century that Michelle Maluske has reported on news as a video journalist with CTV News Windsor in Ontario, she has reported on a wide variety of traumatic events. From shadowing paramedics as they went from call to call several years ago, to a high-profile and trauma-filled murder trial and sentencing hearing in the weeks and months before this conversation was recorded, Michelle’s work has had a deep impact on her life.

“I was overcome with emotion, and I did start to cry to the point I couldn’t talk. And I was embarrassed for a moment,” Michelle says of her experience covering the victim impact statements for a man who murdered four members of a London, Ontario family simply because they were Muslim. “And then I thought, ‘No, this is real emotion. And I may be a reporter, but I’m allowed to feel.’”

Not only was it a highly emotional court case. It was an extremely high profile, garnering national and international interest. This meant Michelle was not only filing stories for her local newscast; she was also doing hits with stations across the country and had very little time to process what she was witnessing and feeling throughout the long days.

Acknowledging that some people view crime reporters as “vultures” and “ambulance chasers,” Michelle puts a human face to the trauma beat. “It costs me nothing to be kind to these people whose lives have been exposed forever,” she says. “I want people to give us the benefit of the doubt. We’re not terrible people.”

As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.

This conversation was recorded in February 2024.

For more trauma-informed storytelling resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.

Steph Crosier is a newlywed, aunt, dog mom, athlete, and journalist who for the past decade has covered mostly crime for the Kingston Whig Standard and papers across the Canada’s Postmedia Network. Before settling in Kingston, Ontario, Steph worked for newspapers in Hamilton, Winnipeg and Sault Ste. Marie.

In this conversation, Steph reflects on her early days as a cub reporter and how her thoughts around the crime beat have evolved over time. She also discusses the challenges posed by local blogs that don’t operate by the same rules as mainstream media outlets, adding a layer of complexity to her job and causing harm to victims and survivors of traumatic events who are forced to suffer on the public stage.

Tamara and Steph also discuss barriers that exist for journalists who would like to collect and tell stories in a trauma-informed way, and what it means to practice “ethical journalism.”

As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.

This conversation was recorded in December 2023.

For more trauma-informed storytelling resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.

Photographer, writer and traveler Fernanda H. Meier has learned many things while documenting stories from around the globe. She speaks with Tamara about the importance of being purposeful in collecting and sharing stories of trauma and ensuring journalism is in the best interest of victims and survivors whose stories are being documented.

“It’s great to tell stories, but just make sure you’re telling the real story, not the one you want people to see and hear,” Fernanda says.

Fernanda also discusses the ethics of capturing images that depict someone’s trauma, the impact of war photography, and the concept of “the human zoo,” in which experiences and events are viewed and presented through a harmfully narrow lens. Tamara and Fernanda contemplate the ethics of profiting from the stories of others, and the idea of compensating subjects for the use of their images.

Resources:

fernandameier.com

Elephant Nature Park

Wildflower Home

Teens of Color Abroad

As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.

This conversation was recorded in November 2023.

For more trauma-informed storytelling resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.

As she prepares to mark 25 years since the mass shooting at her high school that made headlines around the world, Heather Martin speaks with Tamara about the impact the media had on her in the immediate aftermath of the Columbine High School shooting, and for several years that followed.

Tamara asks Heather for her reaction to The Washington Post’s decision to publish graphic imagery from the immediate aftermath of various mass shootings.

Heather speaks specifically about the impact of the media on physically uninjured survivors, the control (or lack thereof) that victims and survivors have over the way their stories are collected and shared, and the opportunity journalists have to help survivors with their post-traumatic growth.

Resources:

therebelsproject.org

As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.

This conversation was recorded in March 2024.

For more trauma-informed journalism resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.

Elisa Toha’s path to becoming a trauma therapist was not exactly a conventional one. Before she began her career helping people through their trauma, she spent years chasing trauma around the United States as a chase producer, or booker, for major network morning shows and CNN.

From her home in New York City, where she was based as an Emmy-award-winning journalist and now works as a therapist, Elisa discusses her career as a booker in a highly competitive media market in which journalists are often flown to traumatic events even before family members have been notified that their loved ones were killed. Elisa and Tamara share anecdotes of being directed to do tasks that went against their moral compasses, and the moral injury they suffered as a result.

Tamara and Elisa grapple with the ethics of trauma journalism, the importance of self-care for journalists who cover trauma, and ideas for how traumatic stories can be told, better.

Resources:

elisatoha.com

As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.

This conversation was recorded in January 2024.

For more trauma-informed storytelling resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.