ABSTRACT
Journalists occupy a special role in society as a conduit between the afflicted and the public. They are responsible for informing the public about injustices and social problems, while upholding standards of impartiality and truth. This may place them in complex overlapping roles. Newsgatherers simultaneously may be rescuers, bystanders, witnesses, advocates, victims, and even, at times, victimizers of the people whose situations they depict. Although journalists are first responders, their mission is to mediate public awareness and response to humanitarian crises and natural disasters, not to intervene directly. Journalists are exposed to a wide range of human suffering. Studies of American journalists not in war zones suggest that most—86, 96, and 98 percent—journalists and/or photojoumalists reported covering at least one story in which someone was killed or hurt, with most covering more than one such event.
