Journalists should take care of their mental health
A tired journalist. Being first responders to crime and accident scenes, working long, unpredictable hours under sometimes impossible deadlines, and being on call throughout means that journalists’ minds and bodies are always wired for action.
Journalists find themselves in some of the most difficult situations in the course of duty, some of which have a profound impact on their mental health.
But because of the fast-paced nature of the industry, most times the incidents pass off as another day in the office, and as the cycle continues some of them begin to suffer the effects.
Journalist Olivia Messer, who quit her job as the lead Covid-19 reporter at the Daily Beast, in the United States, as a result of extreme stress interviewed numerous journalists who were experiencing some of the dejection and anguish that she endured “Many of them told me they do not feel supported by newsroom leaders; that they do not have the tools they need to handle the trauma they are absorbing; and most of their bosses do not seem to care about how bad it has gotten.”
Journalists are good at making their jobs look easy as they are used to showing up at a disaster or crime scene, notebook, camera, and microphones in hand. After a tough story, though, they can face a sense of confusion and misery.
This applies to journalists back in the newsroom also, those sending alerts, editing footage, and figuring out how to frame sensitive stories. It has been found that indirect exposure to traumatizing stories can lead to indirect or secondary trauma.
Journalists nowadays face multi-directional stress and they’re covering an increasingly violent world, where they are the target of threats and harassment both online and in person. They also have to deal with mistrust from the public mainly fuelled by politicians who call their work “fake news.”
Couple all this with the fact that media houses are also undergoing serious financial strain with almost daily mass layoffs and you have the perfect environment for depreciating mental health issues among journalists.
Violence, death, terrorism, war, natural disasters, a pandemic at some point, almost every journalist will report on a disturbing story and face potentially stressful consequences.
Amid all the cacophony to scoop colleagues, uniquely angle stories, and in the process of producing outstanding content journalists need to learn how to deal with mental health issues.
Maintaining a healthy work–life balance comes top of the list and so is dedicating time to paying attention to their support network of family and friends. Journalists should make time for hobbies and other activities that they enjoy since they can serve as positive coping mechanisms. Quick fixes that harm them in the long run, such as alcohol and drugs should be avoided at all costs.
Before embarking on an assignment, journalists should be mindful of their basic needs, such as eating a healthy diet, staying hydrated, and getting enough sleep. This is important if they have no idea how long the assignment will last. It is also important to take a day off after finishing a large investigative story and before moving on to the next story or project.
Journalists can also create circles of support, which can include peer support from other journalists, supervisory support from editors and other supervisors, and departmental support, such as individuals from other departments offering to answer phones, transport food, and offer other ways of helping journalists during reporting of a traumatic event.
Journalists give their all to an industry that occasionally seems to abandon them all too indifferently. Sometimes deadline pressures in newsrooms largely also contribute to the negative energy that ultimately affects their mental health. It is therefore vital for managers in newsrooms to possess people skills and always keep tabs on their staff's mental health.
It is also high time for journalism training schools to now introduce trauma-informed training packages where issues related to mental health are tackled. In this day and age, both journalists and their supervisors need to be equipped with skills on how to prevent themselves from being negatively affected by the dynamics of their work.
Mr Mwangi is manager, corporate communications at the National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada). [email protected].
