Charlotte Aiken

Charlotte Aiken reported on the bombing for the Daily Oklahoman newspaper in Oklahoma City. In the following selection, Aiken discusses the effects the bombing had on the reporters who covered it—effects they felt for a year or more after the event.

Despite the fact that she had been at the scene of and written about homicides and fires, Aiken was not prepared for the carnage and mutilation she saw during her first day at the bomb site. After her initial moment of shock, she got down to the business of gathering information to write her newspaper story. Aiken later discovered that her good friend's husband was killed in the explosion but she could not let herself dwell on her grief over his death. Yet the feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression that many reporters experienced had a profound effect...