This critical ethnographic study is an investigation of the effects of witnessing trauma for Canadian journalists and photojournalists working on national and international assignments. Our primary aim is to describe our participants’ understanding of the effects of covering trauma, disaster, or conflict within a journalism culture. Our findings are derived from in-depth interviews and workplace observations with journalists across Canada. Of specific note are the tensions that exist between the journalists’ beliefs about appropriate practices within the culture of journalism and their personal experiences in the field. These tensions may exacerbate negative effects of witnessing human violence and suffering. Articulating and exploring these tensions may contribute to our understanding of the use and type of support needed and desired by news workers both in and out of the newsroom.
AdamsR. E.FigleyC. R.BoscarinoJ. A. (2004). Compassion fatigue and psychological distress among social workers: A validation study of a secondary trauma instrument. New York: The New York Academy of Medicine.
2.
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders IV-TR (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
3.
BackholmK.BjörkqvistK. (2010). The effects of exposure to crisis on well-being of journalists: A study of crisis-related factors predicting psychological health in a sample of Finnish journalists. Media, War & Conflict, 3, 138-151.
4.
BerringtonE.JemphreyA. (2003). Pressures on the press: Reflections on reporting tragedy. Journalism, 4, 225-248.
5.
BissonJ. I.BrayneM.OchbergF. M.EverlyG. S. (2007). Early psychosocial intervention following traumatic event. American Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 1016-1019.
6.
BuchananM. J.AndersonJ.UhlemannM.HorwitzE. (2006). Secondary traumatic stress: An investigation of Canadian mental health workers. Traumatology, 12(4), 1-10.
7.
CollinsJ. L. (2001). Health issues in journalism and reporting. Occupational Medicine, 16, 583-594.
8.
CooksB. B.BanksS. R.TurnerR. J. (1993). The effects of work environment on burnout in the newsroom. Newspaper Research Journal, 14(3/4), 123-136.
9.
CoteW.SimpsonR. (2000). Covering violence: A guide to ethical reporting about victims and trauma. New York, NY: Columbia University.
10.
DrummondW. J. (2004). Equipping journalists with tools for emotional balance. Nieman Reports, 58(2), 79-81.
11.
DworznikG. (2006). Journalism and trauma: How reporters and photographers make sense of what they see. Journalism Studies, 7, 534-553.
12.
DworznikG.GrubbM. (2007). Preparing for the worst: Making a case for trauma training in the journalism classroom. Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, 62, 190-210.
13.
FedlerF. (2004). Insiders’ stories: Coping with newsroom stress: An historical perspective. American Journalism, 21(3), 77-106.
14.
FeinsteinA. (2004). The psychological hazards of war journalism. Nieman Reports, 58, 75-76.
15.
FeinsteinA.NicholsonD. (2005). Embedded journalists in the Iraq war: Are they at greater psychological risk?Journal of Traumatic Stress, 18(2), 129-132.
16.
FeinsteinA.OwenJ.BlairN. (2002). A hazardous profession: War, journalists, and psychopathology. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 1570-1575.
17.
FigleyC. (1995). Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. New York, NY: Brunner/Mazel.
18.
FrankR. (2002). The forgotten tribe: News coverage unlimited: How an international tragedy spurred an initiative to help newspeople who cover grisly stories. In DanieliY. (Ed.), Sharing the frontline and the back hills: International protectors and providers: Peacekeepers, humanitarian aid workers and the media in the midst of crisis (pp. 331-335). Amityville, NY: Baywood.
19.
GhaffarO.FeinsteinA. (2005, April). Reporting under fire: Understanding psychopathology of war journalists. Psychiatric Times, XXII(4), 1-2.
20.
GreenbergN.GouldM.LangstonV.BrayneM. (2009). Journalists’ and media professionals’ attitudes to PTSD and help-seeking: A descriptive study. Journal of Mental Health, 18, 543-548.
21.
GreenwoodK.SmithC. Z. (2007). How the world looks to us: International news in award-winning photographs from the Picture of the Year, 1943-2003. Journalism Practice, 1(1), 82-101.
22.
HallmanT. (2005). International victims often the hardest part of reporting. Quill, 93(8), 19.
23.
HatanakaM.MatsuiY.AndoK.InoueK.FukuokaY.KoshiroE.ItamuraH. (2010). Traumatic stress in Japanese broadcast journalists. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23, 173-177.
24.
JenkinsS. R.BairdS. (2002). Secondary traumatic stress and vicarious trauma: A validation study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 15, 423-432.
25.
JohnsonG. A.JohnsonI. (2006). Secondary trauma associated with state executions: Testimony regarding execution procedures. Journal of Psychiatry and Law, 34(1), 25-35.
26.
KalterJ. (1999). The workplace: Burnout. Columbia Journalism Review, 38(2), 30-33.
27.
KeatsP. (2005). Vicarious witnessing in European concentration camps: Imagining the trauma of another. Traumatology, 11, 171-187.
28.
KeatsP.BuchananM. (2009). Addressing the effects of assignment stress injury: Canadian journalists’ and photojournalists’ recommendations. Journalism Practice, 3, 162-177.
29.
MaraisA.StuartA. D. (2005). The role of temperament in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder amongst journalists. South African Journal of Psychology, 35(1), 89-105.
30.
MaslachC.LeiterM. P. (1997). The truth about burnout. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
31.
MaslachC.SchaufeliW. B.LeiterM. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual review of Psychology, 52, 397-422.
32.
MatéG. (2003). When the body says no: The cost of hidden stress. Toronto, Ontario: A. A. Knopf Canada.
33.
MAXqda (1989-2007). Software for qualitative data analysis, VERBI Software. Consult. Sozialforschung GmbH, Berlin-Marburg-Amöneburg, Germany.
34.
McMahonC. (2001). Covering disaster: A pilot study into secondary trauma for print media journalists reporting on disaster. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 16(2), 52-56.
35.
NewmanE.SimpsonR.HandschuhD. (2003). Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress among photojournalists. News Photographer, 58, 4-14.
36.
NorwoodA.WalshM.OwenP. (2003). Afterward: Journalists and traumatic stress. In WillisJ., The human journalist: Reporters, perspectives, and emotions (pp. 133-152). Westport, CT: Praeger.
37.
OsofskyH.HollowayH.PickettA. (2005). War correspondents as responders: Considerations for training and clinical services. Psychiatry, 68, 283-293.
38.
PalmK.PolusnyM.FolletteV. (2004).Vicarious traumatization: Potential hazards and interventions for disaster and trauma workers. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 19, 73-78.
39.
PearlmanL. A.McIanP. S. (1995). Vicarious trauma: An empirical study of the effects of trauma work on therapists. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 26, 558-565.
40.
PyevichC.NewmanE.DaleidenR. (2003). The relationship among cognitive schemas, job-related traumatic exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder in journalists. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 16, 325-328.
41.
ReinardyS. (2006). It’s gametime: The Maslach Burnout Inventory measures burnout of sports journalists. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 83, 397-412.
SalstonM. D.FigleyC. R. (2003). Secondary traumatic stress effects of working with survivors of criminal victimization. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 16, 167-174.
44.
ScaerR. (2007). The body bares the burden: Trauma, dissociation, and disease (2nd ed.). CA: Hawthorn.
45.
SimpsonR.BoggsJ. (1999). An exploratory study of traumatic stress among newspaper journalists. Journalism and Communication Monographs, 1(1), 1-26.
46.
StammB. H. (1995). Secondary traumatic stress: Self-care issues for clinicians, researchers, and educators. Lutherville, MD: Sidran.
47.
StewartI. (2002). Freetown ambush: A reporter’s year in Africa. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Penguin.
48.
StruppJ.CosperD. (2001). Dealing with disaster. Editor and Publisher, 134(7), 10-15.
49.
TeegenF.GrotwinkelM. (2001). Traumatic exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder of journalists: An internet-based study. Psychotherapeutic, 46, 169-175.
50.
WeidmannA.FehmL.FydrichT. (2007). Covering the tsunami disaster: Subsequent post-traumatic and depressive symptoms and associated social factors. Stress and Health, 24(2), 129-135.
51.
WeissD.MarmarC. (1997). The Impact of Event Scale – Revised. In WilsonJ. P.KeaneT. M. (Eds.), Assessing psychological trauma and PTSD (pp. 399-411). New York, NY: Guilford.
