Author: The Conversation / Source: The Next Web
Newsrooms across the UK are finding themselves increasingly under-resourced. Less journalists and constrained budgets has meant many editors now rely on their staff to use more information from digital sources – such as social media.
But as more journalism work relies on – or at least incorporates – potentially violent or harmful user-generated content, the risks of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in journalists has increased. This can lead to short, unpleasant careers and, in severe cases, long lasting mental health risks.
PTSD is more commonly associated with combat situations or war reporting – but anyone can develop post-traumatic stress after being involved in, or witness to, a traumatic event.
And this can even happen when the traumatic event is witnessed through social media.New research shows that neither UK universities, nor newsrooms, are adequately preparing their students or staff for these potential risks. Nor are they informing them as to how to seek support when confronted by the symptoms of PTSD.
The research, which examined 63 undergraduate journalism-related courses from a 61 universities across the UK, found that many courses are not teaching students about the risks of PTSD within the job.
The mental health charity Mind, has previously noted that newsrooms are workplaces that increasingly revolve around high stress levels thanks to staff cuts, tight deadlines, long hours and erratic shift patterns. The charity reports that lone working and poor relationships with colleagues are most frequently to blame for stress.
But there is also evidence that violent user-generated content – such as graphic videos – are posing additional risks to journalists. The effects of having to work with this disturbing material can be just as pronounced as first-hand experiences of war or reporting on
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