An Exploratory Study of Traumatic Stress among Newspaper Journalists

Abstract

and Brennon Martin, a doctoral student in the School of Communications, offered invaluable assistance.

Coping with traumatic stress in journalism: A critical ethnographic study

“…However, compared to other professions (such as the military, police, fire fighters, and other emergency services), which have training and organizational support for their stress reactions due to their exposure to traumatic events, journalism as a profession is far behind. It is rare to hear that a journalist has received trauma training in preparation for reporting on disaster and trauma events or received psychological debriefing or assistance on returning home (Keats & Buchanan, 2009; Simpson & Boggs, 1999; Teegen & Grotwinkel, 2001). There is much more work to be done to address the needs of journalists.…”

“…Journalists face the daily challenge of reporting events that involve witnessing the horror and suffering of others. There is a wealth of anecdotal evidence to support the claims that journalism is an extremely difficult job that demands commitment to irregular and long working schedules, fierce competition, and a workplace culture that promotes suffering in silence (Ricchiardi & Gerzynski, 1999; Simpson & Boggs, 1999). Previous research has provided evidence that journalists who cover trauma and disaster events are at risk for developing posttraumatic stress and secondary traumatic stress from witnessing trauma at disasters, war‐related conflicts, accident scenes, homicides, and murder trials, to name a few types of events (Feinstein, 2004; Feinstein & Nicholson, 2005; Keats & Buchanan, 2009).…”

COMMENTARY: A trauma shake-up: Are NZ graduates being prepared for the real world?

“…By 2000, researchers confirmed that journalists also displayed symptoms of trauma (Simpson & Boggs, 1999) but they were yet to look at the effects or what might be done about it.…”

“…Then there is the stigma of admitting stress: journalists have often been reluctant to acknowledge or admit their work might be taking an emotional toll on them because it might be construed as a sign of weakness and few editors have acknowledged it (Simpson & Boggs, 1999;Rees, 2007;Keats & Buchanan, 2009). In 1999 Simpson and Boggs called on news organisations to be more empathetic and talk openly about traumatic stress, as well as search for effective solutions to help journalists recover from what they term the wounds of their work.…”

Quake Aftermath: Christchurch Journalists' Collective Trauma Experience and the Implications for Their Reporting

“…experience of trauma to that of emergency service workers, finding reporters "are strikingly similar to public safety workers in both their experiences and their emotional responses'' (Simpson and Boggs, 1999:17). The difference between the media and emergency service response to trauma was that journalists and their managers paid little attention to the impact such events had on them (Simpson and Boggs, 1999 what stands out is that most appear to cope well with trauma, especially in comparison to other parts of society. To say they cope well compared to others, of course, does not explain in any way how the trauma might affect their work.…”