When covering tragedies, disasters or multiple distressing news stories – beyond experiences and reactions that metropolitan-based media workers have – there are, unquestionably, additional challenges and risks for regional and remote journalists, as the Dart Centre Asia Pacific explains.

Especially for those new to a regional or remote role, being aware of what traumatic news you may cover – as well as how to weather extra risks and stressors – is critical to building resilience and sustaining careers.

Firstly, living and working in smaller districts, towns and cities affected by one or more challenging events means you’ll have greater exposure to traumatised individuals and communities. You’ll encounter individual and community shock, grief and anger – plus personal and collective loss – for much longer, and more often, than will fly-in-fly-out news workers.

There’s a much greater chance of you knowing those most directly affected. Discovering that a friend – or the child, partner or parent of a friend – has died or maimed also happens more often than it would in the city.

Being human, with closer connections to those involved, you may encounter survivor or bystander guilt: in yourself, your peers or your community. While professional boundaries between you and interviewees are best maintained, you may find these encroached simply because of your proximity to these people.

Secondly, you may find yourself at the site of a major incident more times than visiting media will do or filtering more traumatic images from that location.

Psychological research around the impact of traumatic incidents on individuals shows that cumulative “time on site” positively correlates to the degree of negative mental health outcomes.

Image: Aerial view of aftermath of deadly bus crash (taken at Boondall, Qld, October 24, 1994). Source: Queensland Fire and Emergency Services

You may be covering multiple distressing stories, back to back. This, too, can take a toll. In the regions, you’ll be called on almost daily to deal with local fallout from incidents, both professionally and personally.

Thirdly, locals may be hostile towards news media, sometimes with good reason, especially if someone in the initial media pack behaves unethically – all the more reason for local media workers to report ethically on victims and survivors of traumatic incidents and to avoid the risk of moral injury.

One way to avoid moral injury is to ensure you demonstrate best practice when engaging with victims and survivors.

Even if you do your best to serve your community after a traumatic incident, you still may be the subject of unfair, misinformed criticism, usually via negative or abusive social media posts.

Importantly, while most media workers remain resilient most of the time, heightened stress after a traumatic incident can cause burnout in the short-term and, if unaddressed, more serious and persistent mental health concerns.

Everyone responds differently to traumatic stress. Reactions you experience may come from not having encountered such circumstances before or, conversely, having experienced or witnessed a similar trauma previously. 

Image: Emergency services – police, fire, ambulance and SES – attend a road accident (taken at Ormeau, Qld, May 9, 2019). Nicholas Jeffries, Unsplash

One key thing is to remember your core purpose as a journalist, along with the beneficial aspects of news coverage. Your work reflects, reinforces and calms — or exacerbates — the grief and distress that ripples out from death and injury. It can make a difference for those most closely affected and for the broader community.

Through trauma awareness and peer support, you can foster personal resilience to sustain yourself as you work through your community’s recovery while protecting your mental health and retaining your own set of values.

In the past, media workers would gather after a tough story in the pub, maybe share their “war stories”, likely peppered with black humour. Most often, the aim was to block out difficult memories. We now know that the addition of alcohol is unhelpful when someone is processing their responses to traumatic, distressing events.

Instead, positive self-care and peer support – or debriefing with an experienced mentor – can be more valuable, especially if you’ll be covering investigations, inquests/inquiries, court cases, etc., over weeks, months or even years.

A final challenge is realising whether you – or a colleague does – need professional help to deal with ongoing symptoms that disrupt work and home life. The earlier help is accepted, the fewer will be longer-term consequences.

It can be tricky to access to psychological support away from bigger cities. Distance often makes in-person appointments too hard, but you can arrange phone or computer-based consultations. 

TIPS:

• Learn about trauma and journalism to identify what may be happening to you, or a colleague, after covering a challenging story
• If you struggle, seek appropriate help – ask your supervisor to send you to cover different stories until you’re feel stronger
• Avoid spending too much time on the site of a fatality or natural disaster
• Limit exposure to social media, especially after hours – if you are being targeted, have someone else filter your feeds
• If you receive a serious online or social media threat to the wellbeing or existence of yourself or a loved one, take screenshots and report the matter to your local Victoria Police station and to the eSafety Commission.

Trina McLellan MA (Journ), B.Bus-Comn (Journ), MICDA
Chair, Dart Centre Asia Pacific

Title image: Isolated road with yellow and black kangaroo warning sign in foreground (taken near Bendigo, June 6, 2021). Biljana Ristic, Unsplash.