Overview

The Viewing Room: How Journalists Prepare for and Respond to Witnessing Executions discusses the need for individual and organizational journalism training on coping with trauma exposure and providing support after being exposed to trauma, specifically as it pertains to the aftermath of witnessing and covering executions. The United States executed 46 people in 2010. At least one journalist witnessed each of the deaths. Thirty-three of those journalists were interviewed for this book. They witnessed an electrocution, firing squad death or a lethal injection, with some having witnessed more than one execution that year by the time they were interviewed. Kenna R. Griffin argues that support before and after trauma exposure would help journalists cope with emotions related to experiencing traumatic events, and could even help them avoid emotional trauma altogether. It is newsroom managers’ responsibility to create supportive work environments with climates focused on education, training, communication, safety, and emotional well-being—most of which don’t appear to be present when journalists are witnessing executions, and all of which are necessary to create a more mentally healthy profession. Scholars of journalism, trauma, and legal studies will find this book particularly useful.

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9781498596275

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I have been involved in trauma-related issues for nearly 25 years and have not thought of what Kenna R. Griffin is writing about in Journalists as Witnesses to Executions: Processing the Viewing Room. Griffin's interviews and depth of research are fascinating and break ground on an area that many journalists have faced in their careers. This book should be considered for any media ethics or trauma-related curriculum. It's a book that we should be discussing more as more journalists face the coverage of trauma in their careers.--Joe Hight, University of Central Oklahoma

Author Information

Kenna R. Griffin holds a PhD in mass communications from the University of Oklahoma.

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