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	Witnessing and Picturing Violence by Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma USA   Apr 2013   Witnessing and Picturing Violence, by Donna DeCesare.   How do you stay safe, stay ethical and tell good stories when you"re on deadline covering violence and dealing with children and foreign cultures? Through diverse work on lives touched by gangs, paramilitaries, earthquakes and HIV, Donna DeCesare shows how collaboration with her photographs "protagonists" is the key to making powerful and responsible images.   Donna DeCesare is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas School of Journalism, a faculty affiliate of the Latin American Studies program, and an Advisory Board member of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.   http://dartcenter.org/gallery/witnessing-and-picturing-violence   Dart Media is a gallery of visual storytelling, highlighting exemplary work that advances the conversation about how to witness, interpret and represent violence and suffering. http://dartcenter.org/gallery   15 Apr 2013   Boston Marathon Bombings: Resources for Effective Coverage.   Chaos descended on Boston today as the city"s Boston Marathon was rocked by two bombs near the finish line. Three people were killed and over 100 people were injured. Fearing further explosions, authorities severed cell service in the area to prevent remote detonation of additional bombs. Many of the city"s institutions, including Logan Airport, were shut down and people were urged to stay inside.   The first two bombs went off in quick succession around 2:50 pm, about two hours after the winners had crossed the finish line but while thousands of runners were still on the course and large crowds of people cheered them on. (An interactive map of the incidents can be viewed here.) Immediately, the 116th running of one of the world’s most famous marathons turned into a scene of graphic carnage. "Somebody"s leg flew by my head,” spectator John Ross told The Boston Herald. “I gave my belt to stop the blood."   The Dart Center has a host of resources for journalists covering large-scale attacks, including tips for working with emergency services and lessons from incidents like the Virginia Tech shootings, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Oslo/Utoya bombing and mass shooting in Norway.   Following the Tucson shootings of 2012 the Dart Center assembled tips from journalists covering a wide range of terrorist attacks and large-scale violence. As the facts about the Boston Marathon bombings emerge these lessons from past atrocities provide a valuable roadmap for reporters and editors.   Steven Gorelick, professor of media studies, Hunter College, City University of New York: Be very careful about the experts you select as sources. These kinds of high-profile stories are magnets for everyone from legitimate scholars and practitioners to self-proclaimed “profilers.”   Serious experts are almost always quick to admit that there is no easy explanation for why and how something happened, especially before even the most basic information is released. Beware of the expert source who is just dying to be helpful. And perk up your ears when someone tells you: “I really need to get more information before I have anything useful to say.”   Scott Wallace, freelance journalist:   Despite the fact that we are all on deadline, you must take the time to breathe, empathize and feel the pain of survivors and loved ones whom you interview and come in contact with. You need to process that pain yourself. Take time to consider the significance of this event for you as a person, as well as a journalist. Do not rush interviews. Be careful about cutting your subjects off. Be respectful of their need for privacy.   Above all, forget trying to "scoop" your colleagues on this story. A spirit of cooperation should reign among the reporters, photographers and producers on a story like this. It may be useful to work in tandem with a colleague or two from some other media outlet, sharing the material and the experience of the interview rather than putting the same subject through it multiple times.   Joe Hight, managing editor, The Oklahoman, and former president of the Dart Center"s Executive Committee:   Journalists should understand that their coverage ... must be about facts, not speculation and conspiracy theories that stir people into irrational action. They also must remember that their coverage affects people — the families of the victims, the survivors and the community.   They also should consider that their interview approaches to those family members must be sensitive and respectful. That they should be careful not to intrude upon private property and personal grieving space where they are not welcome. That it"s OK to say "I"m sorry."   If they do, then those journalists will be remembered as ethical and credible in their coverage.   Liisa Hyvarinen, Adjunct Professor in print, web and TV journalism at University of South Florida in Tampa, Fl.:   1. TV people: Leave the camera in the car when first approaching victims families at home, especially when they don"t know you are coming. Having the camera point straight at their faces as you ask for the interview makes it less likely that you"ll get the interview.   2. TV people: If possible try not to chase after the victims in a "perp walk" mob scene. Being chased and having questions yelled at you when you"ve just survived or witnessed a shooting, or when you"ve just lost your best friend, is understandably hard.   3. Ease into the most difficult interview material to give the victims time to collect their thoughts, and don"t rush them. Don"t start with the most traumatizing or horrible question.   4. In the weeks and months to come, write letters and e-mails and leave notes on doors to find interviews and let the interview subjects come to you, rather than staking out their homes, dorms or workplaces.   Scott North, reporter and assistant city editor, The Herald (Everett, Wash.):   In the race to get it first, don"t forget the long view. It often helps to think less about gathering fact and more about creating relationships. Some of the best stories won"t be told for days, weeks, months or, in some cases, years.   People in grief have long memories. You will want to be able to return to these people when they are ready to tell you what they"ve learned, not just what they know. The golden rule can"t hurt you here. Approach people the way you"d want to be approached. Give them the respect and space you"d expect in the same situation. If they talk with you, make this promise: No surprises.   Read the quotes they"ve supplied back to them. Summarize how you may use the information. Make sure they have your contact information, and make sure you have theirs. The point is to start a conversation, and to continue it as time passes.   http://dartcenter.org/content/boston-marathon-bombings-kill-two-injure-dozens-as-city-thrown-into-chaos Visit the related web page
	Austerity, Deregulation and the Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion by The Center for Public Integrity & agencies USA   April 18, 2013   Last evening, a fertilizer plant owned by Adair Grain Inc. in West, Texas caught fire, then exploded, killing scores of people and wounding over one hundred others. The blast, destroyed nearby homes, businesses and a nursing home for seniors. There are still lingering questions about how this happened, but documents suggest the plant faced little regulatory scrutiny.   The Dallas Morning News reported that the plant filed papers with state and federal environmental regulators in 2006 claiming that there were “no” fire or explosive risks at the plant. "The worst possible scenario, the report said, would be a ten-minute release of ammonia gas that would kill or injure no one," noted reporter Randy Lee Loftis. Residents complained about the smell of ammonia as they "went to bed" that year, according to a filing.   As I pointed out on Twitter last night, in the last five years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has only inspected five fertilizer plants in the entire state of Texas—and the plant in West, Texas was not one of them. OSHA is severely understaffed and operates with a tiny federal budget. With the agency"s current resources, that means "OSHA can inspect a workplace on average once every 129 years and state OSHA inspectors could inspect one every 67 years."   There are specialized inspectors for chemical plants that, in theory, should have covered where OSHA or environmental regulators left off. The US Chemical Safety Board, which came into operation in 1998, is the commission tasked with investigating safety violations. Like similar boards, the Chemical Safety Board has virtually no resources: only a $10 million budget to cover every violation in the country. The Center for Public Integrity has a new, incredibly damning report, showing that the agency has failed to investigate several recent disasters, including the death of a worker at refinery in Memphis last December.   Budget cuts, and the sequestration, loom large as every federal workforce is scaled back. Rather than provoking reform, at least in the short term, tragedies like this may get worse as there are fewer and fewer regulators to ensure safety at these types of facilities.   * Lee Fang for The Nation. As critics press for action, Chemical Safety Board investigations languish, reports Jim Morris and Chris Hamby for The Center for Public Integrity:   http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/04/17/12498/critics-press-action-chemical-safety-board-investigations-languish   Apr 28, 2013   Americans want Tougher Enforcement of Workplace Safety Laws after Texas Explosion, by Travis Waldron . (Think Progress)   In the wake of the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people, a plurality of Americans say the United States’ current workplace safety regulations are not strict enough to prevent such disasters, according to a new poll from YouGov and the Huffington Post. A majority, though, said tougher enforcement of existing laws would be more effective at preventing future disasters than new laws, the poll found:   According to the new survey, 44 percent of Americans say that current workplace safety regulations are not strict enough, compared to 26 percent who said that they are about right and 7 percent who said they are too strict.   But asked which they thought would do more to prevent another accident like the one in Texas, 52 percent of respondents said that better enforcement of existing regulations would be the most effective, while 18 percent said stricter safety regulations would be more effective.   Indeed, existing laws may have prevented the explosion at West Fertilizer had they been enforced. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) hadn’t inspected the plant since 1985, and it slipped through the cracks of at least seven regulatory agencies. Despite fines and citations, it had not improved its handling of dangerous explosive chemicals like ammonia. The plant failed to alert federal regulators that it had 270 tons of ammonium nitrate on site, according to records examined by CNN.   Instead of tougher enforcement, however, lawmakers at both the state and federal level have moved to weaken regulatory agencies tasked with preventing such disasters. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has bragged extensively that his state has fewer business regulations than other states, and Texas lawmakers had attempted to weaken the regulatory agency that oversees the plant before the explosion. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, in fact, had lost $305 million and 235 employees because of recent budget cuts. At the federal level, 11 lawmakers have led efforts to weaken the Environmental Protection Agency’s monitoring of dangerous chemical sites like West Fertilizer.   http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/04/30/1940111/chemical-facilities-risk-greater-west-texas/   (The tragic accident in West highlights the great importance of risk assessments of all potentially dangerous production sites, factories, plant infrastructure and the like located in or near urban settings, to ensure appropriate standards and processes are in place to protect the public safety. Disturbingly in West it was reported a school was located within hundreds of metres of the factory. Such a risk assessment review should be undertaken immediately not only in the US, but globally).
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