"Trauma is at the heart of news — and of the human condition. How it’s reported gives those who weren’t there their first understanding of what a traumatic event means. Personally. For their families and loved-ones. For their community and their nation. Indeed, for the world as a whole. The journalism of trauma matters, and journalists have a profound responsibility to tell the story well. Their work can reflect, reinforce, and calm — or exacerbate — the grief and distress that ripples out from death and injury. Covering trauma, whether major international stories or events much closer to home, can also have an impact on those who do the reporting. Like the police, the fire and medical services, like military personnel and rescue workers, journalists are professional first responders to crisis and disaster. But they’re among the last of those groups to recognise the psychological implications of that responsibility. Just as sports reporters and financial journalists don’t open a notebook without a professional knowledge of their field, neither should those who report violence and tragedy. This handbook is the fruit of a Dart Centre consultation with journalists across the world, and it distils the expertise of the best international trauma experts." (Introduction)