Digging Into Your Bones: Trauma in Journalism
A podcast on the effects on international reporters, in person and from afar
By Kyle Kittredge
University College Dublin's Clinton Institute with CNN Academy
Journalism is one of the most stressful jobs. But it’s a calling for many regardless of the difficulty.
Speaking with three separate journalists proved insightful into the considerations they each have for dealing with covering war zones, areas of conflict, humanitarian issues, disasters, and other difficult stories they have done. The international journalists interviewed for the Reporting the World podcast expressed the difficulties of doing this type of work yet all three asserted a deep commitment to the profession. When each was asked the question "Why do you want to do journalism" or "What are your inspirations" they answered in kind:
Megan Specia, is a New York Times international correspondent primarily covering the UK and Ireland where she has worked since 2016 in a couple of different roles. Specia's focus is primarily on how policy affects people but has done a plethora of breaking news, conflicts, and human rights stories. She has gone to cover missile strikes and refugees in Ukraine, the remnants of the Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks, and South Sudan and Rwanda during two fellowships with the International Women's Media Foundation.
One of Specia's articles during her second fellowship with the International Women's Media Foundation.
Padraig Grant is a photojournalist and photographer who has traveled extensively in the past 30 years. His work has covered almost every continent and has been commissioned by almost every major news publication in Ireland. He has seen all walks of life from his work, from street photography in Ireland to famine in Rwanda. While talking to him in his Wexford, Ireland gallery he cites reading Robert Cappa's biography but also the emotion of photography as inspiration for becoming a photojournalist.
Melissa Bell has been an international correspondent all over the globe. She has a long-spanning career. She was a political reporter at BBC then an international affairs editor and correspondent at France 24, covering most major news stories such as the Haitian earthquake, the Egyptian revolution, and the war in Mali. Currently, she is based in Paris working for CNN. Bell details ways that her work in broadcast journalism has witnessed events as they were unfolding which can be "terrible but fascinating."
The most thrilling stories are often the most traumatic ones. It is hard to imagine no effects on journalists' mental health after reporting from a war zone, area of conflict, or disaster. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be a risk involved in international correspondence or journalistic work. While none of the interviewees claimed to have PTSD, Bell, Grant, and Specia reflect on some of the most difficult stories they worked on and what has stuck with them.
Melissa Bell speaks on covering the 2010 Haitian earthquake for France24.
"I think the Haitian earthquake was really hard because it was in itself very shocking.
You know, one in four people dying in a city, very brutal.
And then for many weeks, the sort of smell of the dead or the dying and the smell of the living.
And it was a very difficult time and a difficult thing to cover.
And there was so much interest in it that we were there for weeks in the end and it was just a lot."
Grant recounted a story while in Romania photographing a political rally where things escalated.
Grant has had multiple difficult stories that had a lasting impression on him but that did not deter him from doing photojournalism. His gallery showcases his photos and displays the worldly travels he has done for other stories.
Journalists do not normally involve themselves with stories. However, Specia describes a particularly tolling day in which aside from offering comfort there were few things she could do, which she later wrote about for the New York Times and the International Women's Media Foundation.
Specia details what it was like covering the South Sudan story during her interview:
Journalists are not aid workers but each subject was asked if they would consider helping someone while doing their work. It is a moral dilemma to take into account when seeing those in danger or in need of help. Specia reflected on the question in areas of conflict in particular saying "My take on it would be that you have a duty as a human being to help," and often gives people avenues of where they can get potentially get help when working on a story. Specia ruminated on the question of aiding someone as a journalist:
"It can be difficult because you're working in places where there is a level of deprivation or challenges that people are facing and there are people who are going hungry and you're sort of moving in this space and you're able to come into it and then leave from that space. Those questions come up all the time" - Megan Speica.
But journalists aren't always in the field either. Sitting at a desk and working all day in a newsroom might not seem like you would encounter much violence. It doesn't compare with actually being in a conflict area. However, with the proliferation of the internet and reporting taking on a non-traditional approach, especially since COVID-19, there is still trauma when covering conflicts and other difficult stories. Even reporting from domestic or seemingly calm places outside of conflict areas incurs challenging scenarios, where people are in need of help but not as an immediate concern. Journalists might not necessarily realize their work has hit them hard once back home and it has varying levels of impact that come in different forms. The instance of not helping someone could make a journalist weigh their professional duties.
From 2011 to 2014 Specia worked at Storyful. Based in Dublin, Ireland the work Specia was doing was in an office setting verifying social media and other content. The nature of the images could be horrifying while physically removed from it but they still have a psychological effect on a journalist.
This is what is known as vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, or secondary victimization. Vicarious trauma is defined as "a process of change resulting from empathetic engagement with trauma survivors. Anyone who engages empathetically with survivors of traumatic incidents, torture, and material relating to their trauma, is potentially affected" says an article by the British Medical Association. They also list the common symptoms of vicarious trauma, with much overlap of PTSD symptoms. However, this advice was for doctors. Research into who this might also affect led to a report by the American Counseling Association which mentions the trauma as particularly affecting counselors or aid workers.
Recognizing vicarious trauma in journalists and how it has just as much of an impact as doctors or counselors is important. The symptoms may seem small or almost unnoticeable but can build up over time. Common symptoms include:
- Having empathy for victims can provoke anger or cynicism at their victimization.
- Flashbacks and nightmares.
- Individuals tend to be hyper-aroused.
- Individuals can have numbness or are desensitized to images and violence.
- Feeling vulnerable or worrying excessively about potential dangers in the world.
Vicarious trauma has especially become prevalent from online videos. For instance, some of the first violent content that needed to be verified is around the time when The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) first became known and videos surfaced online of their actions as well as Twitter and YouTube's rise in popularity.
Social media has exacerbated the need for verification, exposing those working in newsrooms to see more than they can handle. Considerations of trauma in journalism have become more apparent but typically in correspondents as it relates to PTSD from war zones. Vicarious trauma and similar effects have become more recognized since the proliferation of social media as used in newsgathering media.
Below are some examples of headlines, guides, and studies in the past several years on trauma within journalism.
One area of professional recognition since the early days of online journalism is the Colombia Journalism School project the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, which Specia mentions. The Dart Center had researched what has been the effects of covering violence and conflict on its website since the 2000s. But the Dart Center put together a guide in 2014 to give guidance to journalists and media professionals who work with traumatic material online as well as in the field. It has suggestions on what to do to stay healthy, how to be aware of the trauma that may be inflicted upon journalists, and where to get help. Thankfully, in 2016, Storyful began to recognize vicarious trauma and emotional distress to ensure the well-being of its employees.
Another year later, a study on the psychological effects on journalists was a July 2017 report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University. Authors Anthony Feinstein and Hannah Storm conducted quantitative research and discussions in newsrooms on journalists covering the refugee crisis in Europe in 2015. The study looked at the psychological effects and moral injury among journalists. Moral injury envelops questions of whether to help or not when someone is in need. As explained by Feinstein and Storm, moral injury is "the injury done to a person’s conscience or moral compass by perpetrating, witnessing, or failing to prevent acts that transgress personal moral and ethical values or codes of conduct." Their conclusions surmise that while moral injury is not a mental illness it can be a conduit for PTSD and overlap with vicarious trauma. While studying this, their conclusions also offered areas of support for journalists and recognized how this is a growing area of concern. Feinstein later went on to continue studying trauma in journalists. A recent article on the Dart Center's website cautions journalists who covered the Turkey-Syria earthquake to be aware of the moral injury they may have, which cites and quotes Feinstein as a leading expert in this area now.
Thankfully, areas of dealing with trauma have become even more established. The Journalist Trauma Support Network (JTSN) was also created with the help of the Dart Center. Even if colleagues have not gone on the same story there are support groups from similarly-experienced journalists. Specia's story relatability with her colleague certainly helped when her South Sudan story impacted her.
The JTSN states how difficult it can be for journalists to find support as therapists don't often understand their point of view. They pose the esoteric question, "What is 'traumatic' for a person who goes toward danger for a living?" Journalists also have a unique work culture that perpetrates this.
"Like military personnel and first responders, journalists work within a distinct professional culture, under conditions that are very different from most careers. Journalists encounter an unusual 'dose' and variety of traumatic material in their work and are generally highly resilient. They are accustomed to self-sufficiency, agility, and hard deadlines. When they are impacted to the point of seeking help, it is critical that the helper be able to quickly understand their 'normal' and what has overwhelmed their particular coping system."
According to the Dart Center's guide, they mention that "In the very different context of media studies, compassion fatigue usually refers to the idea of news consumers’ desensitization: diminished empathy and engagement in the face of distressing news stories and images, in particular resistance to charitable appeals for the victims of war, famine or disaster." While this is directed towards consumers, media professionals are crucial to consider for vicarious trauma, especially as they are the ones up close with the content working to verify and publish it.
Now with social media as an everyday tool for news gathering, journalists are affected quite hard.
For journalists working in the newsroom in particular, in the Dart Center's guide there is a step-by-step process for working with traumatic imagery in a non-field position, focusing on Traumatic User Generated Content (UGC):
Additional tips for news editors and managers are also included:
•Every member of the team should be briefed on normal responses to trauma.
•Have clear guidance on how graphic material is stored and distributed.
•The work environment matters, create some separation from the violent content. E.g. placing windows and plants around.
More detailed instructions from the report can be found on their website along with other various guides for journalists coping with trauma. In more recent months the Dart Center has included updated guidance for reporters and other media professionals who are covering the war from inside Ukraine and from afar.
It does appear to become more commonplace when journalists do show emotions in general, which may help to deal with inflicted trauma. For instance, correspondents at CNN have shown emotion in their packages or reports. Clarissa Ward, while in Ukraine, helped refugees cross a bridge. Anderson Cooper found a report of a journalist shot from Ukraine difficult to hear. It also goes to show that there are impacts on journalists more than recognized.
Journalists already have some of the highest stress levels in their occupation than any other career. O*NET, which is part of the U.S. Labor Department has placed News and Video Editors as the second most stressful career. The addition of vicarious trauma and other types of mental health effects simply adds to the stress level and is a factor in the ranking.
Stress in journalism doesn't have to be from working in the field as a correspondent or sitting at a desk verifying social media content but either can have tremendous amounts of psychological ramifications. Yet journalists still have a desire to cover areas of conflict. Some are content with overseeing what goes out on the daily news and websites or prefer more adventure and want to work in the field.
Journalists tend to be voracious pursuers of giving a voice to people who don't have one. Bell, Grant, and Specia capture this sentiment well while recognizing how difficult it is. Regardless, getting the help that is needed is imperative as journalists continue to cover areas of danger.
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