2025 | "The Spectacle of Fearsome Acts": Violence, Journalism and the Democratic Future

Recorded May 12th, 2025. The Trinity Long Room Hub Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture for 2025 was delivered by Bruce Shapiro, on "The Spectacle of Fearsome Acts": Violence, Journalism and the Democratic Future. Are today’s journalists the unwitting enablers of autocrats or the last bastion of democratic defence? Bruce Shapiro, Executive Director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, reflects on how stories get told amid sweeping catastrophes and surging authoritarianism. The Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture was established in 2013 to provide a significant contribution to reflection on and advocacy for the Arts and Humanities. About Bruce Shapiro Bruce Shapiro is Executive Director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, a project of Columbia Journalism School, encouraging innovative reporting on violence, conflict and tragedy worldwide. An award-winning reporter on human rights, criminal justice and politics, Shapiro is a contributing editor at The Nation and U.S. correspondent for Late Night Live on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio National. He also teaches ethics at Columbia Journalism School, where he is adjunct professor and Senior Advisor for Academic Affairs. His books include Shaking the Foundations: 200 Years of Investigative Journalism in America and Legal Lynching: The Death Penalty and America's Future. Shapiro is recipient of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies award for "outstanding and fundamental contributions to the social understanding of trauma." He is a founding board member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub