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

Abstract

Young journalists today are highly likely to cover traumatic incidents early in their careers, with many confronting trauma day to day. This pressure is exacerbated in the current economic climate and fast-paced changing world of journalism. New Zealand graduates are no exception. Few are prepared by their journalism schools to deal with trauma. Should they be taught these skills during their training or should they wait until they are in the workplace? Research has recommended the former for at least two decades. Perhaps it is time New Zealand caught up with many American and Australian journalism schools and introduced changes to the journalism curricula to ensure graduates are equipped with skills to recognise signs of stress in themselves as well as victims. The workplace can support this training with recognition and support, which has been shown to improve productivity and resilience.

You need a thick skin in this game: Journalists’ attitudes to resilience training as a strategy for combatting online violence

“…There is also a growing literature about the importance of trauma education for young journalists (Barnes 2013;Beam and Spratt 2009;Dworznik and Grubb 2007;Dworznik and Garvey 2019;Kay et al 2011), with some indication that the acquisition of resilience can help them manage the moral conflicts of their work (Pearson et al 2019). McMahon and McLellan make an explicit connection between trauma training for journalists and their acquisition of emotional and psychological resilience:…”

“…It has been a period when the news media, as Matloff (2004) argues, finally had to come to terms with the psychological and physical costs of reporting on disaster and which saw the establishment of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma research. Meanwhile, calls have mounted for media organizations and universities to offer reporters consistent, systematic and reflective trauma education (Beam and Spratt 2009;Kay et al 2011;Barnes 2013;Dworznik and Garvey 2019) even as journalism has become a more dangerous, change-ridden and precarious line of work.…”

Exploring the Attitudes of Journalism Educators to Teach Trauma-Informed Literacy: An Analysis of a Global Survey

“…There is a significant gap in the literature relating to effective pedagogies for practical training in safety for journalists (Murphy et al, 2020). This type of pedagogy should focus on how to recognize traumatic reactions in themselves and others, how to deal with potentially traumatizing situations, and appropriate interviewing behavior to avoid revictimizing those they encounter while getting the story (Barnes, 2013; Dworznik & Garvey, 2019).…”

Forced change: Pandemic pedagogy and journalism education

“…M any have argued the best place for this training is in journalism schools, because emerging journalists are highly likely to encounter trauma very early in their careers (Barnes, 2013). As one study showed, 84 per cent of journalists had covered at least one traumatic story within the first five years of their careers (Johnson, 1999).…”