The media has a critical role to play in increasing the public’s understanding of intimate partner violence (IPV), its consequences and effective strategies for preventing it. On October 21-22, 2011, Columbia University’s Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma held “Out of the Shadows: Reporting on Intimate Partner Violence,” a workshop for media professionals addressing the challenges and opportunities to improving coverage of this serious and complex social issue.

The interactive two-day workshop brought together award-winning journalists, national and local health experts, practitioners, educators and prevention advocates. It provided participants with new research, resources and perspectives on IPV to better enable them to produce more informed, effective and independent reporting on the issue.

In an effort to bring these learnings to journalists beyond the program, the Dart Center developed a new online resource featuring the key insights from the workshop. Any journalist covering IPV can access these materials and benefit from the workshop presentations, dialogues and peer-to-peer learning sessions with seasoned journalists, such as Jan Hoffman of the New York Times, Sacha Pfieffer host of WBUR’s “All Things Considered,” Maria Hinojosa, anchor for NPR’s “Latino USA.”

The Dart Center toolkit includes expert tips sheets, compelling video testimony, informative presentations and contacts information for subject experts as well as other resources. The materials cover key insights into:

• Cross-cultural reporting and IPV among special populations
• Interviewing victims in the midst of tragedy
• Reporting on teen dating violence and interviewing minors
• Various approaches to understanding IPV and new angles for covering the issue
• Long-term health implications of IPV
• Understanding the impact of IPV through the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study
• Research on the resilience of battered women and children