North Texas Journalism School Considers Course On Covering Mass Shootings
DENTON (1080 KRLD) - Journalism professors at the University of North Texas are joining other educators across the country on how to teach students to not only survive mass shootings, but how to cover them.
The Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas is one school that may add a specialized course to their curriculum.
"I do think that trauma reporting and how you manage through those kind of events is important," says Dorothy Bland, dean of the Mayborn School.
Bland says she plans to talk with the rest of her faculty about the possibility of a course covering traumatic events. Aside from mass shootings, the potential course could also discuss covering natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey.
"Everyone has had some kind of experience with trauma," Bland says. "It's important to help folks understand the acts that are related to trauma, whether that's covering a breaking news story or following up on the healing process."
The chance for a young reporter to take a specialized course like this in school would set them apart once they reach the real world.
"It helps build resiliency because sometimes you have to face those tough issues," says Bland.
It could also lead to young reporters being more compassionate when dealing with victims of trauma in their news stories.
Bland says creating a syllabus for a course on trauma reporting would take lots of planning, but she expects to start that discussion with her faculty in the near future.
