The Journalist Always Rings Twice? Preparing Journalism Students to Interview Those Caught up in Trauma

Journalism frequently throws up difficult ethical issues for journalists to confront in pressurised situations. This is particularly true of the “death knock,” where journalists interview family and friends in the aftermath of a sudden death (Duncan Citation2012). These stories, because they are stressful and disliked, are often given to young, inexperienced journalists (Cooper Citation2012), but the consequences can be devastating for both family and journalist (Newton and Duncan Citation2012, Citation2014).This paper argues that by using the approach of forum theatre (Flores Citation2000), in which situations are both acted out and interrogated, journalism students could have a simulated experience of confronting such issues in a brave space. It examines three workshops carried out with final year undergraduate journalism students as part of a core ethics module between 2023 and 2025. Students discussed the ethical questions raised by death knocks, before sessions in which they used forum theatre techniques to imagine and experience the roles of journalist, photographer and family member, while questioning how best to do it. At the end of the sessions, students reported a better understanding of the issues involved and the potential threats to their own mental health, as well as more confidence in carrying out such interviews.