TITLE OF GRANT: Journalism Workshops to Improve Reporting on Mental Health
1) What is the underlying theory of change for creating a positive community impact that guides
the intended outcomes of your funded project?
The Dart Center’s work proceeds from the presumption that if journalists are provided with
substantive, science-informed and evidence-based training about the impact of violence, conflict
and tragedy, they will report on victims and survivors with greater understanding; avoid
sensational and exploitative coverage; and inform public debate about trauma, violence, mental
health and policy with greater ethical understanding, accuracy and depth. It also presumes that a
culture of journalist-to-journalist mentoring is the most effective, and historically proven, means
of improving news coverage of these issues, leading to both better journalism and more resilient
journalists better able to fulfill their essential role: helping citizens engage meaningfully with
some of the most important challenges and debates connected to mental health and social policy.
By creating professional training workshops for local and regional reporters that provide access to
top local and national clinical, research and policy experts and training in innovations and
journalism craft, the Dart Center’s reporting workshops broaden and deepen reporters' knowledge
of critical social, behavioral and mental health issues and offer practical tools for reporting
knowledgeably, ethically and effectively on them.
2) How does the work of your funded project address your theory of change?
By creating professional training workshops for local and regional reporters that provide access to
top clinical, research and policy experts and training in innovations and journalism craft, our
project broadens and deepens reporters' knowledge of critical social and mental health issues and
offers practical tools for reporting knowledgeably, ethically and effectively on them.
3) Has your funded project produced the outcomes you intended? How do you know?
The two intensive two-day workshops provided working journalists in the Greater Philadelphia
area with a unique opportunity for intellectual exchange with clinical, research, legal and policy
experts around a host of behavioral health issues; examination of reporting best practices; and
discussions of particular challenges and opportunities for pursuing local and regional stories on
these topics.
The overarching goal was to improve local and regional journalism across the media spectrum on
two critical public health issues – returning veterans and youth violence; both of which have a
host of immediate and long-term impacts on individuals, families and communities locally and
across the nation. We accomplished this by bringing together a diverse group national and local
experts from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, public health, policy, academia and journalism
who imparted their knowledge and expertise of relevant topics, engaged in discussion and helped
reporters navigate journalistic craft challenges. In addition, we convened local and regional
policy, advocacy and direct service organizations that took part in a “speed-networking” session
to foster relationships between reporters and generate new story ideas. Finally, we produced an
online package of reporting tip-sheets and other resources for journalists on how to cover these
topics and special populations they affect.
The first workshop, “When Veterans Come Home,” covered topics including PTSD, traumatic
brain injury, children and family issues, women in combat, suicide, employment, education and
physical and psychological injury. Featured speakers included: Arthur Evans, PhD, Director,
City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health; Sandy Bloom, MD, Associate Professor
at the School of Public Health at Drexel University and co-director of the Center for Nonviolence
and Social Justice; Anita Chandra, PhD, Manager, Behavioral and Social Sciences Group at the
RAND Corporation; Marsha Four, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Veterans Multiservice and Education Center; Steven Sayers, PhD, Director, VISN 4 Mental Illness Research,
Veterans Administration Medical Center of Philadelphia; Andrew Stone, MD, Director, PTSD
Clinical Team, Veterans Administration Medical Center of Philadelphia; Paul Sullivan,
Executive Director, Veterans for Common Sense; Kelly Kennedy, Reporter, USA Today; and T.
Christian Miller, Investigative Reporter, Pro Publica.
The second workshop, “Getting it Right: Reporting on Youth Violence” explored youth violence
as a public health problem, local policy and prevention measures, investigative reporting around
gun trafficking and school discipline policies, tips and tools for high impact local reporting and
visual storytelling. Featured speakers included: Gary Slutkin, MD, Founder of CeaseFire and
epidemiologist at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health; Kenneth Ginsburg,
MD, Pediatrician at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia and Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine;
Emily Rothman ScD, Associate Professor of the Boston University School of Public Health;
Everett Gillison, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety; Ted Corbin MD, MPP, Assistant Professor
of Emergency Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine; Jamira Burley, a youth
activist; James Grimaldi, Staff Writer for the Washington Post; and Carlos Javier Ortiz, a
photographer and Acel Moore, a veteran journalist for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Both programs increased the capacity of local and regional news organizations and led to a
variety of better informed, expertly-sourced and timely reporting on returning veterans and youth
violence.
Below are links to the public announcements and workshop descriptions for each program:
“When Veterans Come Home” – April 1-2, 2012
http://dartcenter.org/content/upcoming-workshop-in-philadelphia-on-veterans-reporting
“Getting it Right: Reporting on Youth Violence” – December 9-10, 2012
http://dartcenter.org/content/workshop-reporting-on-youth-violence
Building off the first workshop, the Dart Center organized a number of brown bag lunches and
panels on covering veterans including “Reporting on Soldiers at War and Veterans After” with
author and USA Today and Military Times reporter, Kelly Kennedy at the Columbia Journalism
School, April 30, 2011 and a panel entitled, “Covering Veterans” with three speakers from the
Scattergood funded workshop at the annual Investigative Reporters and Editors conference, Las
Vegas, June 10, 2011.
The workshops attracted the interest of several other foundations and, as a result, the Dart Center
secured funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Stoneleigh Foundation and the
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for future programs modeled on the Scattergood
supported workshops.
We received positive feedback from participants and speakers alike and are aware of a variety of
stories generated by workshop participants that use information gathered and sources cultivated
during our Scattergood-funded workshop.
4) What have been the unintended outcomes of your funded project, both positive and negative?
N/A
5) Based on both the anticipated and unintended outcomes you have achieved, how would you
design the project differently in the future?
6) Please list any public, private or nonprofit organizations you have collaborated with on this
project.
We engaged a wide variety of local and regional nonprofit organizations (education, service and
advocacy) working on veterans and youth violence issues for the “speed-networking” portion of
the program, a list of which is below:
Addus HealthCare
Freedom and Honor Transition
Greater Philadelphia Veterans Network Heroes Today
Liberty Resources Academy
Liberty Resources Inc.
Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service Center
National Association of Women Veterans
Pennsylvania CareerLink: PA Department of Labor & Industry
Philadelphia Stand Down
Philadelphia Veterans Comfort House
RecruitMilitary
The Sierra Group
TRIO Veterans Upward Bound
USDOL/VETS
Visual Impairment Services Team at VAMC
Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia
Campaign for Nonviolent Schools
Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice
Center for Prevention of School-Aged Violence - Drexel University
Father’s Day Rally Committee
Juvenile Law Center
Mothers in Charge
National Network of Hospital Based Violence Prevention Programs
National Peace Alliance
Philadelphia CeaseFire
Philadelphia Collaborative Violence Prevention Center
Sin Fronteras
Stop, Drop Your Gun, Inc.
7) Have these questions challenged you to think about your project in new or different ways? If
yes, please explain.
We’ve been thinking along these lines for some time.
8) What challenges have you faced?
We faced two main challenges; staying within budget while building a program that addressed a
wide range of themes and delved far beneath the surface. We were humbled by the significant
interest in both workshops and the number of inquiries we received from journalists both in the
Philadelphia area and around the country, notwithstanding the workshop’s explicitly-stated local
focus.
As mentioned, the cost of meeting space, catering, speaker travel, honoraria and staff time
exceeded our overall projections. While there are several ways we might reduce costs, namely by
receiving an in-kind donation or reduced rate for WHYY’s space, the reality is that the cost of
producing a two-day workshop that draws on both local and national experts and the staff time
needed to organize it is significantly more than we anticipated at the outset.