From Romania to Poland and from the United Nations to the New York Times, McFarlin Chair in Psychology Elana Newman spent the past year circling the globe. As research director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, her work examines topics stemming from the physical and psychological effects of trauma exposure.
Newman trains journalists on how to cope with horrific events. “I do a lot of consulting, going to major newsrooms, one-on-one consulting outside of my scholarship for journalists who have been covering traumatic things,” said Newman. “I get asked questions on ethical issues in covering events. ‘What is the danger? How can we not harm sources?’ Those sorts of things.”
Newman has expanded the center’s efforts to The University of Tulsa, where she directs the Treatment and Assessment Center for Traumatic Stress (TACTS) Lab, recently renamed the Dart Journalism and Trauma Research Center at TU. It offers undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to participate in research projects examining resiliency in journalism, moral injury, and post-traumatic stress disorder among journalists, the general occupational health of journalists, and the impact of journalistic choices on audiences.
Newman’s graduate-level elective, Safety Matters: An International Course, is the only research-focused journalism safety course for doctoral students in the world. It provides students the opportunity to travel to Norway and form research teams with graduate students and faculty there, as well as South Africa and Brazil. “It’s pretty exciting,” she said. “We’ve had a few students’ papers published from this work.”
Newman’s research isn’t limited to journalism. Documentary filmmakers, docents, archivists, and curators are just a few examples of people who experience the effects of trauma.
Newman participated in a National Endowment for the Humanities’ 2024 Summer Institute for Higher Education Faculty titled “Content Warning: Engaging Trauma and Controversy in Research Collections.” The invitation to the NEH institute followed consultations with Gilcrease Museum and Greenwood Rising – Black Wall Street History Center. She volunteered during Greenwood Rising’s soft opening, using her expertise to help visitors process what they witnessed as they traversed exhibits that chronicle the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
Newman’s experiences helped her identify the training gaps for those who work with archival materials or present those materials to the public. “I was shocked to discover how none of them get any training in how to manage the emotional components of traumatic historical events,” Newman said. “For example, docents are amazingly adept at communicating history but not at responding to the public’s reactions to this history. Similarly, curators and archivists are not given training on how to respond to unexpected traumatic objects in archives, how to label and prepare warnings, and how to emotionally and ethically respond to working with such objects.”