Clinicians and Journalists Responding to Disasters Elana Newman, PhD, 1 and Bruce Shapiro 2 Abstract Objective: Mass casualty events pose dilemmas for community clinicians, often challenging their existing clinical toolkits. However, few clinicians were trained to be experts in explaining the unfolding events to the community, creating resources, and interacting with journalists. The objective of this article is to explain knowledge, skills, and attitudes that mental health professionals need to consider when working with journalists, especially those covering children affected by disaster. Methods: In service of these objectives, this article reviews controversies, evidence, and best practices to facilitate effective collaborations and consultations with journalists. Advice includes information on how to be a good source to journalists. Results and conclusions: Clinicians can ethically and effectively help journalists tell accurate and compelling stories about the psychological effects of disasters when they understand and respect the aims, culture, and ethics of journalism. Introduction I n the aftermath of disaster, no professional first responders play as controversial a role as journalists. Local news profes- sionals may arrive on a disaster scene with the speed of emergency services and begin relating information before the situation is clear; in a large-scale event, national and international media may blanket a town or region, adding to the overwhelming sense of chaos and burden for local leaders and survivors. Child clinicians in particular may find much to question in media practice: Inter- views with children that seem insensitive or unethical; a physical presence that may be overwhelming and an ongoing source of anxiety or anger for community members and families; and coverage that seems to oversimplify psychological recovery, or that anoints charismatic victims or survivors at the expense of a nuanced portrayal. However, news professionals also serve a crucial function in mass disasters that can promote community recovery and foster mental health interventions. Journalists may play a vital role in defining the extent of the damage by leveraging resources by making stakeholder agencies and the broader society aware of survivors’ perspectives and needs, connecting survivors with one another and their families, and educating survivors and the broader society about mental health and related psychosocial aftermath issues. We believe that clinicians are well positioned to help journalists and the public understand the psychological dimensions of recov- ery from such events. This is particularly the case with mass ca- sualty events heavily impacting children and families, in which journalists, policy makers, and the public alike may have little insight into the special needs of young people, the developmental implications of childhood trauma, and the value of evidence-based interventions. However, few clinicians are trained or prepared to interact with journalists, to explain the unfolding events to the community, or to create resources through media. This article will focus on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that child clinicians and other mental health professionals need to consider when working with news professionals. We will also consider the questions of ethics and practice that can arise when clinicians and media interact in times of crisis, with particular attention to children. Although this article is primarily framed in a North American context (both of media culture and disaster response) we will also draw on lessons from international disasters and news organizations in other regions. Journalists’ Roles in Disaster and Recovery During mass disasters and their aftermath, journalists and media institutions play multiple roles. The first is simply to bear witness. Because of this professional obligation, news professionals rush toward disaster zones, often at considerable personal risk. In 2005, reporters from the New Orleans Times Picayune drove newspaper trucks back into the city at the height of the storm even while their own newsroom was under water (Horne 2006). In December 2012, Connecticut journalists sped to Sandy Hook Elementary School amid reports of an active shooting – including a reporter for the Hartford Courant who learned only after arriving on the scene that his stepdaughter was among the educators killed (Shapiro and Leukhardt 2013). A few months later, Boston Globe photographer John Tlumacki, assigned to the Boston Marathon finish line, in- stinctively moved in on the scene of the first bomb blast even as spectators fled (Irby 2013), capturing what became iconic images of a terrifying day. Journalists identify themselves as first-on-the-scene responders, with a job on crisis scenes as distinct as firefighters, paramedics, or law enforcement. In this phase of a disaster, the roles of journalists 1 Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma Research Office, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma. 2 Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, Columbia University School of Journalism, New York, New York. JOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY Volume 24, Number 1, 2014 ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Pp. 32–38 DOI: 10.1089/cap.2013.0068 32