Teaching vicarious trauma in the journalism classroom: An examination of educational provision in UK universities

This article reflects the perspectives of journalism educators responsible for preparing journalists for careers in the Middle East and North Africa region, which has received little attention in trauma education research. A survey with quantitative and qualitative questions is used to reflect opinions of 101 journalism educators from Algeria, Sudan, and Palestine on journalism trauma-focused education and to elicit their attitudes toward incorporating trauma education into their institutions’ journalism curricula. The findings revealed that journalism educators are particularly cognizant of the role of trauma in journalism practice and the relevance of incorporating trauma education elements into journalism curricula. Journalism educators have identified a number of barriers to incorporating trauma into their institutions’ journalism curricula, as well as various perspectives on how to incorporate trauma-focused education into journalism curricula, which could call for changing how journalism is taught in their respective institutions. The study establishes a methodological foundation for other scholars to use when investigating triangulation (or the lack thereof) among educators, students, and practitioners in their own communities.

Section: Obstacles To Integrating Trauma Into Journalism Curriculumsupporting

confidence: 69%

Section: Trauma Literacy and Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Trauma-focused Journalism Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Awareness of Trauma-Focused Education and Attitudes Toward Incorporating Trauma-Focused Education in Curricula Among MENA Journalism Educators

Izzeldin Malik,

Boudhane,

Alafranji

et al. 2023

“…Another challenge is centered around evidence that journalism courses are not sufficiently preparing students for the risks associated with exposure to traumatic stressors as part of their work (Specht & Tsilman, 2018). For example, in the United Kingdom, a content analysis of course descriptions of the 63 courses failed to find a single trauma-focused program or module or concrete mentions of trauma, vicarious trauma, PTSD or eyewitness media (Specht & Tsilman, 2018). Previous research indicates that 50% of journalism educators note trauma reporting receives hardly any attention in the curriculum (Melki et al, 2013; Seely, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Ogunyemi

Price

2023

Literature notes that most journalists will witness trauma and human suffering during the course of their careers, yet journalism education is lagging behind in preparing students to cope with the effects of exposure to traumatic events. This paper examines the attitudes of journalism educators/trainers toward trauma literacy through a questionnaire survey of 119 journalism educators globally. The findings show that a high percentage of educators have a good understanding of the risks that arise from exposure to critical and potentially traumatizing events but there are some barriers to teaching trauma including lack of knowledge/confidence, resources, time, and teaching materials.

“…The risks of viewing user-generated content or vicarious trauma are not taught in any courses in the United Kingdom. The risks to journalists have been shown to increase as more journalistic work begins to rely on, or incorporate, UGC ( Specht & Tsilman, 2018 ). Sixty-three journalism-related courses’ course descriptions, including their specifications, titles, reports of all of their modules, and introductory course materials like films, were examined by Specht & Tilman to arrive at this result.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Trauma Literacy Quotient Among Indian Journalists and a Way Forward in Post-Pandemic Era: A Case Study of India

Shilpa

Kumari

Das

et al. 2023

The American Psychological Association defines trauma as “an emotional response to a terrible event. . ..” Trauma can be experienced as a response to either physical or emotionally disturbing circumstances. The Journalism and the Pandemic Project from the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, in their global survey of journalists, have studied the impact of the pandemic on journalists across the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused varying degrees of disruptions in the personal and professional lives of journalists. Traumatic experiences like covering traumatic events up close, COVID-induced health issues, job loss, pay cuts, and insecurity at the workplace have consumed journalists like never before. Overwhelming emotions like shock, helplessness, loneliness, depression, and anxiety are some of the reactions observed by mental health experts. Indian journalists, too, like their counterparts across the globe, have had to take on the challenges posed by this unprecedented crisis. This article intends to study the impact of the pandemic on Indian journalists both from physical and emotional perspectives. The objectives of the study include—(a) to analyze the journalists’ response to traumatic experiences during the pandemic, (b) to study the nature of trauma experienced by journalists during the pandemic, (c) to analyze how traumatic experiences affected the journalists, and (d) to explore and analyze how journalists managed to cope with the traumatic experiences. The study adopts social cognitive theory (SCT) as the framework. SCT comprises four goal realization processes: self-observation, self-evaluation, self-reaction, and self-efficacy. The four components are interrelated, and all influence motivation and goal attainment. Social cognition includes diverse processes linking the perception of social information with a behavioral response, including perception, attention, decision-making, memory, and emotion. The post-traumatic reactions include re-experiencing the traumatic event in flashbacks, recurrent nightmares, and intrusive memories, hypervigilant arousal, impaired concentration, depression, sleep disturbances, self-devaluation, avoidance of reminders of traumatic experiences, emotional detachment from others, and disengagement from aspects of life that provide meaning and self-fulfillment, which impair intrapersonal, interpersonal, and occupational functioning. The scope of the study covers the journalists’ responses to traumatic experiences specific to the pandemic. The study adopts a mixed research method with a thematic analysis of the qualitative data from interviews of journalists followed by a factor analysis of the quantitative data from the survey of the journalists.