Covering traumatic incidents can impact media workers and their peers as well as their managers. It can even affect their loved ones. Those impacts may be transient or persistent, immediate, delayed or long-term.
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As each media worker – and their manager – digests the ramifications, personal and professional, of a particular tragedy, the Dart Centre Asia Pacific has some tips and resources to help journalists report ethically and safely.
For those who will be on-scene reporting:
- Before you head out, take time to prepare for the intense reporting that you are about undertake and the potential impact it can have
- If you have concerns, speak to a newsroom manager or colleague before you depart
- Pack any necessary PPE (personal protective equipment)
- Ensure you pace yourself: Take regular breaks, rehydrate regularly and have food on hand
- Have someone you trust to call on if you need to talk through anything disturbing
- If you feel overwhelmed or fatigued at any point, speak to your news desk immediately
- Peer support is crucial, especially if you experience something together. Look out for one another
- Debrief with your team afterwards – it can help you process what you’ve seen or heard. Alternatively, speak to a mentor or an experienced colleague. This can be someone from your or another media outlet, a retired journalist, or a trauma-informed health practitioner.
Image: News Corporation
For newsroom managers:
- Be aware of any personal and/or professional circumstances that may adversely impact a media worker and/or the safety of your news team
- Deploy several journalists to report on a significant tragedy wherever you can and rotate coverage teams to allow for adequate breaks from site or content
- Before media workers head out, brief them thoroughly what is known about on-the-ground conditions and what is expected of them
- Check they’re leaving with appropriate PPE, fluids and food to allow them to focus on their work while remaining physically safe
- Agree on regular times for operational and welfare check-ins
- Make sure journalists on scene, and at their desks, take sufficient breaks from exposure to traumatic scenes and sounds as well as to traumatised victims/survivors/witnesses
- On multi-day assignments, keep each reporting team member’s next of kin informed of their welfare and likely return time.
Image: William West, AFP (via Getty Images)
- With especially challenging assignments, consider whether individuals need a day or two of “decompression” time before returning to regular work and home life. This may be as simple as time off in lieu but, in some cases, this will be best served in a neutral location (neither near site of tragedy nor at home) to allow people to process what they’ve experienced
- Initiate debriefs after assignments are completed to discuss the impact of the reporting and how journalists feel about the coverage as well as the job’s demands
- Keep senior management informed of possible mental wellbeing impacts, potential requirements to approve leave or to add additional staff to the coverage
- Foster a newsroom environment that emphasises and supports self-care and peer-support.
Image: Trina McLellan
In the days after you, or your team, return from covering a traumatic event, acknowledge how you are feeling, because it is perfectly normal to experience reaction after being exposed to trauma. You may notice:
- Behaviours: Irritability; angry for no reason; agitated or easily annoyed; snapping at family, friends or co-workers; social isolation or destructive behaviour (e.g., excessive drinking, use of stimulants or drugs, driving fast)
- Physical reactions: nausea, vomiting, chest tightness, shortness of breath
- Disturbed sleep/insomnia, intrusive thoughts/images/nightmares
- Numbness/emotional detachment
- Avoidance/lack of interest in things normally enjoyed
- Hypervigilance/easily startled, being “on guard”
- Teary, feelings of guilt or numbness
- Difficulty concentrating, e.g., completing simple, everyday tasks.
Image: Trina McLellan
Strategies to help you through the post-assignment period
- Ensure proper diet and hydration, drink plenty non-caffeinated fluids, avoid alcohol
- Avoid re-watching the news or revisiting images associated with the event
- Take time out, even if just to go for a walk, a swim, listen to music or have a massage
- Return to your normal work and home life routines as soon you can
- Watch for delayed reactions that may occur in coming weeks
- If you don’t already, use a mindfulness app or do deep-breathing relaxation exercises
- Join a meditation or yoga class if that is something that interests you
- Try an activity where you can leave your phone behind and not turn it on for an hour
- Take time to rest. Be kind to yourself. It is OK to do nothing. If you feel like you need to be doing something you can write in a journal or read a book
- Reach out for professional help if symptoms are overwhelming or persist for more than a month. A GP can help you obtain a mental health plan to access a psychologist or, if your need is urgent, call one of these services:
- Lifeline 131114
- Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
- Mensline 1300 789 978
- Mindspot 1800 6144334
- Head to Health 1800 595 212.
More from the international Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma resources: