TRANSCRIPT
LUDLAM: "We've had lots of stories inevitably where you just can't stay and do something about it necessarily. And that I find quite jarring and difficult to encompass."
COFFEY: "Just every time I went to bed, I would think of the fires or a story would come up or I'd wake up, I'd dream of the fires."
LEE: "It felt wrong to be back in Auckland, where all the buildings were at 90 degrees. And things didn't fall down unexpectedly."
STANLEY: "They were grieving and that's what they were saying, we are grieving, leave us alone. And I just felt terrible that I'd made them feel worse."
In this series, we’ve heard from journalists who have covered major world events, and learnt more about the emotional toll that comes with reporting on trauma.
And so to fully understand how reporters are affected by their experiences in the industry, SBS spoke to an expert on trauma in journalism.
But first, what exactly is trauma?
Trauma is defined as severe and lasting emotional shock and pain caused by an extremely upsetting experience.
It’s something Bruce Shapiro, of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, says is frequently experienced by reporters.
"We know from research all over the world that on the one hand, journalists actually are kind of a resilient tribe. We also know, however, that when threat is at a high enough level or horror is at a high enough level or if it's persistent enough, sometimes journalists' personal capacity can be over-topped. Sometimes journalists can be affected in profound ways. Some of those ways involve what science now understands as post-traumatic stress disorder or post-traumatic reactions: people who are left changed in enduring ways because of their biological and psychological and social response to overwhelming threat."
Mr Shapiro is the Executive Director of the organisation, which he says has existed to support journalists for over 20 years.
"As news professionals we spend a lot of time reporting on the worst kinds of human experience: everything from intimate partner violence and the intimate sphere of tragedy in the home, all the way up to war disaster, international human rights. Yet traditionally as reporters we've never had a lot of training for that kind of work. So the DART Center was set up in part to help journalists understand the experiences of survivors of trauma at all levels and to report ethically, effectively, tell stories in a way that generates compassion and understanding."
As we’ve heard, not every journalist responds to trauma in the same way.
For some people, it fuels their passion to tell stories and for others, it can haunt them for years after.
As Mr Shapiro explains, a lot can be said for the emotional work a journalist does before reporting on a story.
"We do know that having a good tool kit, really learning the skills of interviewing people in distress, we know that learning how to fact-find, verify facts et cetera about challenging events, knowing how to edit video, all of those craft skills also give journalists more control over difficult events. One of the things we're really learning a lot about is that for news professionals, having a really robust sense of your ethics and standing up for what you think is right, and having a newsroom culture that promotes ethical reporting actually also helps journalists with their mental health."
But it’s not just journalists and international correspondents you see on TV at night live-crossing from a war-zone who are seeing and hearing distressing content.
It can also be your local producer who’s editing footage sent from overseas or a small-town reporter who’s built genuine relationships with the community they’re reporting on.
"While that may be obvious if we're looking at reporters covering war, what the studies all show is that these risks are also true for journalists covering local events that may affect communities we live in or work with. They affect journalists who are covering large amounts or who are working with large amounts of graphic imagery who may never leave the desk but are flooded with images of horror. The brain and body respond to violence and trauma regardless of where it's coming from and sometimes we can be changed in profound ways, ways that affect journalists' ability to work effectively."
Mr Shapiro has labelled a journalist’s exposure to trauma as a press freedom issue.
He says a journalist who’s rendered less effective or even shut down by trauma or burnout is silenced and is being censored.
Public perception of the work journalists do is something which can also affect a reporter and contribute to feelings of burnout.
And although it has improved, Mr Shapiro says there’s still work to be done to erase stigma around an often-glamorised industry.
"I think that most of the public does not understand how much journalists put themselves on the line every day to convey the truth about the world. I also think the public doesn't quite understand the impact of escalating threat, harassment and abuse on journalists all over the world. Greeted increasingly by a flood of online and sometimes in-person gender bigotry or other identity-based online violence. This isn't entertainment. This is about adding stress and threat to journalists whose lives already involve looking at a lot of difficult stuff."
But the issue of negative stigmatisation doesn’t end with those consuming the news.
The industry itself can be blamed for some of the negative habits and expectations of reporters.
While overwhelmed and understaffed, the journalistic ethos of heading enthusiastically to cover mayhem and danger can collide with burnout and trauma.
And the stigma of admitting a mental health challenge runs deep among people who view their work as a calling.
They're stereotypically known more for forgetting problems at the after-work bar than addressing them in the therapist’s office.
But Mr Shapiro says a new generation of journalists may be looking for a change.
"The traditional self-image of journalists - when I started out as a reporter in the early 1980s for instance - was 'if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen'. I think a couple of things have changed. There have been a couple of now-pioneering generations of journalists beginning in the late 90s, early 2,000s. In recent years there's been the rise of an even younger generation of journalists now in their twenties and early thirties coming into the profession with a much higher expectation of duty of care. So some of the stigma has corroded, some of the stigma has worn away. There's still a lot."
So what can you do to help?
Whether you’re a journalist who’s feeling overwhelmed or you’ve noticed a change in the behaviour of a loved one who happens to be in the industry, Mr Shapiro says the solution can be as simple as speaking out.
"The most important advice I would give is to connect to someone about it. As journalists, our brains don't do especially well when we keep that kind of distress kicking around inside - trauma and burnout both love the isolated brain. So when we mention it to someone, mention our concern to someone, we're actually breaking out of stigma. We're getting our brains out of that self-reinforcing isolation, which trauma can be for a lot of folks. If you are feeling uncertain or distressed, talk about it. If you're feeling changed, get some help for it."
And even after a career in speaking to journalists who have reported on unfathomable circumstances, Bruce Shapiro says he still manages to be surprised and impressed by the people he meets.
"Every journalist who talks to me about their experience surprises me because we're all different. Covering trauma is not a one-way ticket to post-traumatic stress disorder. And it's not just something to be endured while you hope you get the story right. Really being that compassionate witness for the survivor of trauma, or laying out a line of accountability for abuse that otherwise would go unmentioned, is enormously fulfilling and is something that journalists go through doing. You can think about ways the world has been changed and how we talk about trauma that owes a tremendous amount to the work of journalists."
You’ve been listening to History’s First Draft with me, Ciara Hain.
For more episodes exploring the effects of reporting the news on journalists, follow the podcast on the SBS Audio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
