Deirdre Kronschnabel, 2017 graduate of Elon University, conducted research on the relationship between journalists, and the survivors of trauma stories they interview. Kronschnabel began the research as an Elon senior, with three main focus questions:
How do journalists process survivors’ narratives as they conduct interviews and develop news stories?
How do journalists understand their roles in interviewing trauma survivors?
In what ways does the interaction with a survivor during an interview influence a journalist’s outlook about writing a news story?
“I really wanted to study the interview process,” she said. “And study something that was timely and compelling.”
The thought process behind the research, according to Kronschnabel, is based off of the fact that journalists “operate in a world of narratives, and few are more dramatic and reflective of the human spirit than stories of people who have lived through trauma”. Exploring this process of how traumatic stories and events become news
Kronschnabel talked with 12 working journalists throughout a four month period, and analyzed the relationship between their moral and ethical values and their professional goals and practices. This lead Kronschnabel to break down her findings into different categories of what she refers to as, the ongoing narrative between the journalist and the trauma survivor.
Interviewing Behaviors and Mechanics
Skills and Lessons
The Journalist’s Dilemma
Being Human
The New Narrative
“The new narrative became the conclusion, or common thread of the thesis,” she said. “Which is that there is this narrative that does exist between the trauma survivor and the journalist.”
This ongoing narrative Kronschnabel became so fascinated with, lead her to eventually shift her motives for the work.
“While I was doing the work, I was definitely more focused on what the research implications of the project would be,” she said. “But it’s definitely become less of a research project in my mind, and more of an opportunity to have these enriching conversations with people.”
Because after all, journalist or trauma survivor, they all fall under the same category of being a human being. And this narrative, of how trauma becomes news from survivor to journalist, starts with recognizing that. According to Kronschnabel’s research, “these professional journalists all found it most important to treat survivors as humans, first and foremost.”