If trauma is part of the job, taking time to recover should be too.
A few days ago, I stumbled across an article in which Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf talked about the compelling need to capture Israel’s siege of Gaza through her pictures — even if this meant feeling like she was “dying on the inside, over and over again.”
One of the photographs shown in the article particularly struck me. In it, her colleague and friend Mohammed Alaloul is carrying the body of his daughter, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike. He weeps while holding his child, as Abu Elouf wept with him behind her camera. The faces of the dead, she said, haunt her to this day.
According to data collected by Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, between 80 per cent and 100 per cent of journalists have been exposed to a work-related traumatic event. More than a quarter of journalists who report on conflict or war experience lifelong symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Yet conversations about mental health in newsrooms remain scarce, worsened by a prevailing culture that prioritizes deadlines over well-being.
As journalists, we are not taught how to deal with the aftermath of covering conflict. Our job is to uphold objectivity above all else, in efforts to protect the already scarce trust of the public. So, we keep emotions from seeping into our reporting. We learn to detach, and this pattern inevitably trickles into our workplaces.
But what happens when the stories we cover stay with us? What if we’re unable to just “shake them off?”
It isn’t surprising that most journalists have chosen to remain silent about experiencing psychological distress, in fear of jeopardizing their careers. Neuropsychiatrist Anthony Feinstein, who studies journalism and trauma, found the punitive culture of journalism drives media workers to avoid asking for support. Most think they could be handed fewer assignments or be considered “weak” if they were to do so.
The industry’s unspoken rule to “suck it up” damages journalists’ mental health and overall well-being. Canadian media workers already report suffering alarming levels of depression, anxiety and PTSD.
If we continue down this path, we will not only further encourage a culture of detachment but also lead to the burn-out of professionals. When journalists are struggling, they are unable to deliver in-depth analysis or empathize with their subjects. This only increases the risk of producing less nuanced reporting. Hence, the public receives shallow coverage of conflict, making trust in the media decline even further.
Journalists are not given enough time or space to talk or reflect on their trauma, despite the fact that the likelihood of having to cover disasters, humanitarian crises, and conflict has only risen in recent years.
This shift in culture can begin in schools, by redefining the values we teach in journalism. Instead of emphasizing neutrality to uphold objectivity, we should focus on cultivating empathy — both for the subjects we cover and for ourselves. News organizations must deliver training on managing trauma and foster open discussions about mental health.
Luckily, this already seems to be happening. Two years ago, CBC began offering specialized support for teams covering the Russia-Ukraine war. The initiative includes regular check-ins and referrals to health professionals with expertise supporting journalists in war zones. Training programs to help with stress and exposure to graphic content are also available for all staff. Meanwhile, the Journalist Trauma Support Network provides counselling resources for media workers and trains therapists to help journalists dealing with trauma.
While initiatives bringing awareness to the psychological effects of covering conflict have begun to appear in the last few years, there is still a long way to go until the topic of mental health is no longer taboo in journalism.
Although this won’t happen overnight, journalists should no longer suffer in silence. Embracing vulnerability and supporting each other can only provide us with more humane, empathetic reporting.
