“I feel disgusted”: Experiences of moral injury and its impact on the well-being of conflict journalists

Abstract

Journalists working in conflict zones are regularly exposed to potentially morally injurious events, which can result in moral injury with a significant negative impact on their psychological well-being. However, as the dialogue around journalist well-being continues to grow, conflict journalists’ experiences of moral injury remain unexplored. This paper seeks to fill this gap by asking the following questions: How do conflict journalists describe their experiences of exposure to potentially morally injurious events? How do conflict journalists perceive the impact of exposure to potentially morally injurious events on their personal and professional well-being? Through 32 in-depth interviews with conflict journalists in Pakistan, we identified four potentially morally injurious events experienced by participant journalists, including failure to be a good witness, interviewing victims of terror events, putting other journalists’ lives in danger, and betrayal by their organizations. Our findings indicate that conflict journalists experience shame, guilt, and self-loathing after exposure to potentially morally injurious events. These experiences also negatively impact their interpersonal relationships, perception of their moral decision-making, and overall job satisfaction. We argue for approaching mental well-being as a systemic issue and offer suggestions for improving mental health literacy among journalists.