News Media Framing of Suicide Circumstances and Gender: Mixed Methods Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide. Journalistic reporting guidelines were created to curb the impact of unsafe reporting; however, how suicide is framed in news reports may differ by important characteristics such as the circumstances and the decedent's gender. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the degree to which news media reports of suicides are framed using stigmatized or glorified language and differences in such framing by gender and circumstance of suicide. METHODS: We analyzed 200 news articles regarding suicides and applied the validated Stigma of Suicide Scale to identify stigmatized and glorified language. We assessed linguistic similarity with 2 widely used metrics, cosine similarity and mutual information scores, using a machine learning-based large language model. RESULTS: News reports of male suicides were framed more similarly to stigmatizing (P<.001) and glorifying (P=.005) language than reports of female suicides. Considering the circumstances of suicide, mutual information scores indicated that differences in the use of stigmatizing or glorifying language by gender were most pronounced for articles attributing legal (0.155), relationship (0.268), or mental health problems (0.251) as the cause. CONCLUSIONS: Linguistic differences, by gender, in stigmatizing or glorifying language when reporting suicide may exacerbate suicide disparities.

The evolution of media reportage on GMOs in Ghana following approval of first GM crop.

Ghana's parliament in 2011 passed the Biosafety Act to allow for the application of genetically modified organism (GMO) technology in the country's agriculture. In a vibrant democracy, there have been extensive media discussions on whether GM crops will benefit or harm citizens. In June 2022, the state GMO regulator, the National Biosafety Authority (NBA), approved the country's first GM crop (Bt cowpea) for environmental release, declaring the crop does not present an altered environmental risk or a food/feed safety concern. This study identified 3 of the country's most vibrant digital news outlets and did a content analysis of all GMO stories reported 18 months pre- and post-approval to assess whether the approval changed the focus of GMO issues the media reports on. 91 articles were identified. The results show media reports on the likely impact of GMOs on the country's food security shot up after the approval. However, media reports on the possible health, sociocultural, and environmental impact of GMOs declined. We observe the media and the public appear interested in deliberations on how the technology could address or worsen food insecurity and urge agricultural biotechnology actors in Ghana to focus on that in their sensitization activities.

Neutrality and impartiality in Midwestern U.S. newspapers: community-oriented newspaper journalists reporting of environmental water problems in agricultural and ranching states.

BACKGROUND: U.S. journalists embedded in rural and agricultural communities could adversely affect the health of residents if they avoid alerting and engaging their readers - farmers, ranchers, and community members - on environmental and health issues. We expected reporters would maintain community status quo and inaction by framing local water pollution and quality issues neutrally deemphasizing threats and solutions to maintain their own credibility as unbiased informational sources. METHOD: In a content analysis of local water quality newspaper articles from five farming and cattle ranching states in the west central U.S. Midwest, we employed seven variables to investigate whether journalists practiced neutral, detached forms of journalism (i.e. dissemination versus interpretative role enactment, government-frame) as well as whether they deemphasized water pollution as a concerning issue (i.e. problem, threat), water pollution solutions, and readers' efficaciousness. RESULTS: The results showed these journalists relied heavily on government-driven narratives presenting water quality issues from an impartial, straight reporting lens in which they primarily followed the journalistic dissemination role enactment, while neglecting to provide readers with interpretative, threat, efficacy, or solution's information. CONCLUSIONS: The study seeks to help communicators understand the information diet people living in this part of the country likely receive on environmental and health risks in the context of water pollution. Communicators seeking to reach and affect audiences in this region should understand local information practices to navigate how to craft culturally specific public health messages.

Status foe: a psychobiographical investigation of Ida B. Wells.

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) led an extraordinary life as a journalist, educator, and activist while navigating the intersecting social realities of race, gender, and class. She embodied courage, advocating for the civil rights of Black Americans in an uncompromising fashion.Building on decades of research in social psychology, sociologist Cecilia L. Ridgeway presents (2019) a cultural schema theory of status. She contends that issues of status in interpersonal contexts are an unavoidable aspect of the human condition. Despite the ubiquity of status as a sociocultural force, Ridgeway believes that status hierarchies may be undermined.The present study is a psychobiographical exploration of Wells through the lens of Ridgeway's status theory. It explores: the development of Wells' cultural schemas; how Wells navigated her own status; the inter-relationship between Wells and her sociocultural context; and how Wells undermined and overcame status hierarchies.

Media coverage of COVID-19 vaccines: sources of information, and verification practices of journalists in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Research on vaccines confirms the crucial role media play in framing discourses and mobilizing public support for successful immunization campaigns. What journalists cover on vaccination issues and their diligence in producing stories can influence attitudes to and uptake of vaccines. This paper contributes to emerging discussions on the role of the media in pandemics and in vaccination programs by interrogating the information seeking and verification practices of journalists reporting on COVID-19 vaccines in Ghana. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among journalists from June to July 2021 through self-administered questionnaires by means of Google forms. The opinions of 300 respondents, randomly drawn from members of the Ghana Journalists' Association, were solicited and a response rate of 73% obtained. RESULTS: Majority of journalists surveyed relied on official health sources for their information on COVID-19 vaccines (61.5%) and were confident the benefits of vaccines outweigh the risks (70%). While journalists relied on a variety of expert sources, social media platforms served as important sources of information also, with respondents stating a preference for Facebook (48.3%), and WhatsApp (44%). Journalists stated they were guided by sound practices such as source credibility and relevance, but betrayed weaknesses in their verification practices with a third of them admitting to sharing unsolicited information from social media. CONCLUSIONS: Journalists in Ghana generally display a positive attitude towards COVID-19 vaccines and regularly search for information from official sources to inform their work, thus making them vital allies in overcoming vaccine hesitancy. Laxity in verification practices, however, makes them inadvertent agents of misinformation.

"You'd be Right to Indulge Some Skepticism": Trust-building Strategies in Future-oriented News Discourse.

This paper explores trust-building strategies in future-oriented news discourse, marked by a high degree of uncertainty. While current research mainly focuses on audiences' perceptions of news credibility, this study addresses news trust from a production standpoint. We examine the trust-building efforts of media actors, focusing on their discursive labor within the context of election projections. Drawing on rich data from five election rounds in Israel and the US, we qualitatively analyzed 400 news texts and 400 tweets that were produced by 20 US and 20 Israeli media actors. This textual analysis was supplemented by 10 in-depth interviews with Israeli journalists. Our findings demonstrate three types of journalistic trust-building rhetoric in election coverage: facticity, authority, and transparency. These strategies result in a two-fold form of trust, which re-affirms traditional notions of accuracy and validity, while also challenging the ability of newspersons to obtain them in contemporary political and media cultures. Overall, these strategies hold unique opportunities and challenges for sustaining public trust in journalism and illuminate the complex communicative labor involved in building trust with news audiences. Our findings also highlight the importance of studying trust not only in relation to the past and the present, but also in future-oriented discourse.

Anniversary reactions among journalists covering terror: stress reactions and well-being 10 years after the terror in Norway.

Background: Covering terror and catastrophes can be traumatic for journalists, potentially resulting in long-term impairment. This study investigated 10-year anniversary reactions among Norwegian journalists who covered the Oslo/Utöya terror incident in Norway, 2011.Objective: The study aimed to investigate whether level of traumatic exposure and support actions in 2011 were related to anniversary reactions and current psychological well-being in 2021. It also explored if magnitude of anniversary reactions was related to level of current well-being.Method: A cross-sectional survey was sent to journalists who still work within journalism, eight weeks after the 10-year anniversary (N = 200). Participants reported retrospectively on trauma exposure, ethical dilemmas and social support in 2011, as predictors, and attitude to media anniversary coverage, anniversary-related stress, and well-being, as outcome variables.Results: More ethical dilemmas in 2011 (r = .295, p < .001) were related to a larger degree of anniversary-related stress in 2021. Having received less workplace social support in 2011 was related to more stress reactions (r = -.196, p < .05), while the magnitude of overall traumatic exposure in 2011 was not related to stress. Social support also predicted a higher level of current well-being in 2021 (r = .381, p < .001). More severe anniversary-related stress symptoms were significantly associated with decreased level of current well-being (r = -.259, p < .001).Conclusion: Journalists can experience lasting consequences from demanding experiences at work, including fluctuating stress symptoms during incident anniversaries. It is crucial for both journalists and newsrooms to recognize and be aware of the potential impact of anniversaries on the well-being of those involved in the initial coverage.

In a cross-sectional study carried out in 2021, journalists who had faced more ethical dilemmas while covering terror in 2011 had more anniversary-related stress symptoms in 2021. A larger magnitude of overall traumatic exposure in 2011 was not related to stress reactions ten years later.Journalists who had received more workplace social support in 2011 had lower stress levels in 2021.Journalists who had received more support in 2011 had higher levels of current well-being in 2021.Journalists with lower levels of anniversary-related stress symptoms had higher current well-being.

Silêncio na redação ­ a saúde mental de jornalistas na abordagem da comunicação de riscos / Silence in the newsroom ­ journalist's mental health from the risk communication approach / Silencio en la redacción ­ la salud mental de los periodistas en el abordaje de la comunicación de riesgo

Desde a década de 1990, o psiquiatra sul-africano Anthony Feinstein tem abordado o tema da saúde mental de jornalistas na cobertura de tragédias humanitárias, com foco no Transtorno do Estresse Pós-traumático (TEPT) e em moral injury (lesão moral), definido como uma ferida na alma. Em 2020, primeiro ano da pandemia da covid-19, o artigo "The covid reporters are not okay. Extremely not okay", da jovem jornalista Olivia Messer, trabalhando on-line, chamou a atenção não apenas para o tema da saúde mental dos repórteres, como também para a invisibilidade do assunto. Este artigo objetiva investigar como a comunicação de riscos pode contribuir para descortinar e enfrentar os riscos à saúde mental de jornalistas no Brasil, especialmente no contexto das redações híbridas e da plataformização do jornalismo, um dos campos que compõem o referencial teórico em seu cruzamento com a comunicação de riscos e a psiquiatra. A metodologia contempla a pesquisa bibliográfica nessas três áreas, a plataformização do jornalismo, a comunicação de riscos e a psiquiatria, a partir da conexão entre elas, e da análise de conteúdo, de base quantitativa, da cobertura do assunto pelos jornais Folha de S.Paulo e O Globo. Os resultados apontam a urgência da retirada do tema da invisibilidade midiática e social e confirmam a potencialidade da comunicação de riscos para o seu enfrentamento.

Since the 1990s, South African psychiatrist Anthony Feinstein has addressed the issue of the mental health of journalists covering humanitarian tragedies, focusing on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and moral injury, defined as a wound in the soul. In 2020, the first year of the covid-19 pandemic, the article "The covid reporters are not okay. Extremely not okay", by young journalist Olivia Messer, working online drew attention not only to the issue of reporters' mental health, but also to the invisibility of the issue. This article aims to investigate how risk communication can contribute to uncover and address the risks to the mental health of journalists in Brazil, especially in the context of hybrid newsrooms and the plat-formization of journalism, one of the fields that make up the theoretical framework in its intersection with risk communication and psychiatry. The methodology includes bibliographic research in these three areas, platformization of journalism, risk communication and psychiatry, from the connection between them, and content analysis, of quantitative basis, of the coverage of the subject by Folha de S.Paulo and O Globo newspapers. The results point to the urgency of removing this issue of media and social invisibility and recognising the potential of risk communication to face it.

Desde la década de 1990, el psiquiatra sudafricano Anthony Feinstein ha abordado la cuestión de la salud mental de los periodistas que cubren tragedias humanitarias, centrándose en el Trastorno de Estrés Pos-traumático (TEPT) y el moral injury (el daño moral), definidos como una herida en el alma. En 2020, el primer año de la pandemia de covid-19, el artículo "The covid reporters are not okay. Extremely not okay", de la joven periodista Olivia Messer, que trabaja en línea, llamó la atención no sólo sobre la cuestión de la salud mental de los periodistas, sino también sobre la invisibilidad del tema. Este artículo pretende investigar cómo la comunicación de riesgo puede contribuir a descubrir y abordar los riesgos para la salud mental de los periodistas en Brasil, especialmente en el contexto de las redacciones híbridas y la plata-formización del periodismo, uno de los campos que conforman el marco teórico en su intersección con la comunicación de riesgo y la psiquiatría. La metodología contempla la investigación bibliográfica en estas tres áreas, plataformización del periodismo, comunicación de riesgo y la psiquiatría, a partir de la conexión entre ellas, y el análisis de contenido, de base cuantitativa, de la cobertura del tema por los periódicos Folha de S.Paulo y O Globo. Los resultados apuntan a la urgencia de sacar el tema de la invisibilidad mediática y social y confirman la potencialidad de la comunicación de riesgos para su confrontación

The blurring line between freelance journalists and self-employed media workers.

This study uses the question, 'what makes a freelancer specifically a journalist' as a starting point for investigating the ways Australian freelance journalists experienced and managed precarious employment in COVID-19 impacted 2020. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 32 self-identified freelance journalists, we analyse the types of work they did, the influence of the precarious job situation on their work choices and the consequent ways they chose to display their identity as journalists. Our findings reveal a complex picture, which calls into question some of the binaries established around journalism. While nearly all participants had to resort to work outside journalism in 2020, at least half still displayed strong links to journalism, demonstrated by their sense of belonging to a community of journalists, and their continued interest in doing self-funded public interest journalism as 'passion projects'. However, we also noticed a blurring between the descriptors of journalist and writer, based partly on employment opportunities but also, importantly, on interest in increasing creativity in the journalistic space. These results lead us to question work-test definitions as a signifier of a freelancer's bond to journalism and to propose, instead, that freelancers merit a new standing in the flattening hierarchy of journalism.

Association of neurotoxin treatment likelihood with sex of television journalists.

Neurotoxin procedures have been increasing in popularity since they were approved for cosmetic use in 2002, with predominately women being treated. Our objectives were to determine likelihood of neurotoxin treatment in television journalists based on demographics and social media popularity. Likelihood of neurotoxin treatment was determined from by grading forehead and glabellar rhytides in videos using a standardized scale. A greater percentage of women vs. men were "likely/highly likely" to have had glabellar (23% vs. 17%, respectively) and forehead neurotoxins (42% vs. 13%, respectively) neurotoxins (both P < 0.05). A greater proportion of anchors vs. non-anchors were "likely/highly likely" to have had glabellar neurotoxins (37% vs. 11%; P < 0.05). In sum, we found that women broadcasters are more likely to pursue neurotoxin treatments compared to male broadcasters and uncovered potential gender-based aesthetic treatment biases in the media industry.

Journalists and Depressive Symptoms: A Systematic Literature Review.

Mental health research focusing on journalists has largely tended to give precedence to trauma exposure and subsequent symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. However, there are several occupational factors that may be associated with the development of depressive symptoms in journalists. This systematic literature review aims to provide a concise, comprehensive, and systematic review of the quantitative literature relating to journalists' experiences of depressive symptoms. The systematic literature review method adopted was based on that prescribed by Fink and contains three main elements: sampling the literature, screening the literature, and extracting data. Key terms were developed and used to source appropriate studies from several electronic databases, a hand search of reference lists was conducted, and authors were contacted to suggest examples of their own work not yet sampled. The sample included 13 quantitative studies reported in English language. Journalists most at risk of experiencing depressive symptoms had (1) greater exposure to work-related and personal trauma, (2) experienced threats to themselves or their family, and (3) reduced levels of family and peer support, social acknowledgment, and education. An area for further investigation is the prevalence and experiences of specific depressive disorders within the journalist population. There are a number of theoretical and methodological issues that can be addressed in future research.

Media perception and trust among disaster survivors: Tsunami survivors' interaction with journalists, media exposure, and associations with trust in media and authorities.

A critical part of disaster communication is media coverage in the interface of the afflicted, media, and authorities. One communication key is building trust. Disaster survivors encounter journalists in a high-stress context, but little is known about their perceptions of these interactions and the subsequent media exposure. The aim of this study is to explore how survivors 6 years after a major disaster perceived their encounters with journalists and exposure in the media, as well as their level of trust in the media, compared with government and authorities. Data were used from a longitudinal study of Swedish tourists, repatriated from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, surveyed up to 6 years after the tsunami to assess posttraumatic stress (PTS) and effects on mental health. At 6 years after, the survey included questions about survivors' perceptions of journalist interactions (reported by n = 311), of their own media exposure (n = 177), and survivors' trust in media organizations and public authorities (n = 1,181). Tsunami survivors mainly perceived interactions with journalists as being professional. There were 14% who reported that the interactions were supportive and 17% that the interactions were a strain. Similarly, most participants had a neutral view concerning the subsequent media coverage or exposure, although 12% experienced media exposure as stressful and 12% reported that it had been involuntary. Finally, the survivors indicated higher confidence and trust in Swedish radio and TV as compared to the Swedish authorities, and the participants' level of trust in the media was associated with their perceptions of journalists, r = 0.34, p < 0.001, and media coverage, r = 0.47, p < 0.001. Disaster survivors mainly agreed with emotionally neutral statements about interacting with the media, the performance of journalists on site, and their own media exposure. Nonetheless, a substantial minority found the encounters and exposure to be negative, and the results suggest a link between personal experiences or perceptions and trust in the media.

The "Ambassadorial" Journalist: Twitter as a Performative Platform for Ultra-Orthodox Journalists during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Journalists can play a pivotal role in promoting a population's security amid a health crisis such as a global pandemic. This role becomes of enhanced importance for marginalized populations as they face a compounded threat due to preexisting social inequalities and exclusion. This study focuses on the utilization of Twitter by ultra-Orthodox journalists during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. The study applies a thematic analysis of 23,110 tweets from the 20 most popular ultra-Orthodox journalists on Twitter. Findings reveal that ultra-Orthodox journalists utilized Twitter in an "ambassadorial" role to advocate their community's security through six strategies: (1) explaining the challenges endangering ultra-Orthodox Jews during COVID-19, (2) dispelling COVID-19 accusations directed against ultra-Orthodox Jews, (3) encouraging social distancing and health guidelines, (4) highlighting the social contributions of ultra-Orthodox Jews to the general public during the pandemic, (5) criticizing wrongdoers who violated the health guidelines, and (6) calling out acts of hatred and bigotry that have been directed toward ultra-Orthodox Jews. These findings reveal the professional ethos of ultra-Orthodox journalists and their aspiration to protect their community. Furthermore, these findings shed light on the vital role Twitter can play in journalistic work through inter-social interactivity and the enablement of capabilities, particularly the capability "to be secure." Lastly, this study expands the understanding of the social media resource contributing to policymakers tasked with formulating its fair distribution in society in accordance with the capabilities approach and its objective of promoting well-being.

Hong Kong Universities in the Shadow of the National Security Law.

How did Hong Kong's transition from a largely free, semi-independent city to a full-blown Communist Party dictatorship affect its academic life? A watershed moment was Beijing's imposition, in June 2020, of a National Security Law. The author examines the impact of that law on the conduct of university senior managements, on local and expatriate faculty, and on students. Senior management responded to the new law by disciplining students, monitoring faculty, and cleansing universities of anything deemed hostile to the new order. Faculty rapidly capitulated to government and management edicts, though locals showed more grit than expatriates did. Students were the most defiant actors of all until university managements severed ties with their students' unions, effectively defunding them. A case of surveillance in Lingnan University, the author's former place of employment, is related and its implications considered. The author describes how, and explains why, journalists in Hong Kong acted with greater defiance than professors did. He suggests that Identity Politics, a Western import, is congenial to Chinese Communist Party rule in Hong Kong.

Information Literacy as a Predictor of Work Performance: The Mediating Role of Lifelong Learning and Creativity.

This study examined the effect of information literacy (IL) on work performance with mediating role of lifelong learning and creativity among journalists in Pakistan. A cross-sectional survey using an online questionnaire was conducted in the press clubs of four provinces (e.g., Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Baluchistan) and the federal capital Islamabad for data collection. The received 1084 responses were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling. The results indicated that IL of journalists had a direct and indirect but positive influence on their work performance. The lifelong learning and creativity skills also mediated the relationship between IL and work performance. This study provided empirical evidence for how IL directly influence work performance and indirectly with the mediated role of lifelong learning and creativity. These pragmatic insights may inform academicians and enterprises about the IL importance at workplace for enhancement of organizational performance and achieving a competitive advantage. Such results may also initiate an instruction program for existing as well as for prospective journalists to impart IL education. This study could be a worthy contribution to the existing IL research in the workplace context in general and of journalists' workplace in particular as no such study has appeared so far.

News Journalists and Postruamatic Stress Disorder: a Review of Literature, 2011-2020.

Research has demonstrated that first responders may develop psychological trauma/ posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the performance of their duties. Often overlooked in these studies of police, firefighters, and paramedics is an additional group of providers who also respond to these same events: news journalists and photo journalists. Although limited in scope, the research literature from 1980 to 2010 assessed an association between PTSD and some news journalists. The strength of these findings are limited due to serious methodological limitations. The present paper reviewed the journalist/PTSD literature from 2011 to 2020. There were 4558 subjects in 23 studies, which were world-wide in scope. There were 2633 male reporters (58%) and 1925 female journalists (42%). The average age of subjects was 34.37 years and the average length of experience was 10.68 years. Many reported either PTSD, PTSD symptoms, depression, and/or substance use. A detailed methodological critique is presented.

Voice and Communication in News Anchors: What is the Impact of the Passage of Time?

INTRODUCTION: News anchors, as high-performance voice professionals, may be subject to voice and communication changes throughout their careers. OBJECTIVE: To compare the overall degree of vocal deviation, use of vocal and nonverbal resources, pleasantness and expressiveness of Brazilian journalists - news anchors - at 2 time points: at the beginning of their career and late in their career, when they are at an old age. METHODS: A longitudinal observational study that analyzed voice samples collected indirectly from 20 professional male journalists at 2 time points with a minimum interval of 25 years: at the beginning of the career (T1) and at present (T2). The journalists were 60 years old or older, and the samples were narratives with similar communicative content. The overall degree of vocal deviation and use of vocal resources (presence/absence of vocal alteration, vocal attack, loudness, pitch, resonance, articulation of speech sounds, speech speed and breath-speech coordination) and nonverbal resources (emphasis, pauses, rhythm and loudness and pitch variations) were analyzed. Nine judges analyzed the expressiveness and pleasantness of the participants' voices. THE RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 38.6 years at T1 and 73.7 years at T2. Differences observed between T1 and T2 included greater overall degree of deviation at T2; greater presence of vocal alterations; and worsening of vocal attack, loudness, pitch, articulation and breath-speech coordination. A directly proportional correlation between pleasantness and expressiveness and an inversely proportional correlation between pleasantness and expressiveness and the overall degree of vocal deviation were observed. CONCLUSION: Worsening of some vocal aspects was observed; however, the participants' nonverbal characteristics, pleasantness and expressiveness were unchanged throughout their careers.

Ecuadorian Journalists Mental Health Influence on Changing Job Desire: A Cross Sectional Study.

Journalist's mental health could predict their job change. This study aims at determining the prevalence of mental health issues and their association with perception of aptitude for covering emergencies and difficulty in seeing a corpse, and also to determine the mental health factors associated with job change. An ad hoc survey, GHQ-28 (Somatization, Anxiety-Insomnia, Social Dysfunction, Depression), MBI-P (Burnout, Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, personal accomplishment) and Brief scale to diagnose Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Suicide Risk were applied to 196 journalists (female = 51.6%). Descriptive analysis, correlations (Pearson and Spearman), T-test and binary logistic regression were performed. It was found that one third part of journalists perceive themselves as having low aptitude to cover emergencies and difficulty in seeing a corpse, 17.3% would consider changing jobs and 42.1% could only access free mental health services. The most frequent mental health problems are: low personal accomplishment, emotional exhaustion and post-traumatic stress disorder (11.2 to 17.3%). People who want to change jobs present more: social dysfunction, depression, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, low personal accomplishment, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide risk. The two mental health factors associated with desire of changing jobs are high emotional exhaustion, and low personal accomplishment. These results guide the psychosocial risk prevention processes for journalists, as well as the training needs that universities could consider to protect the mental health of this vulnerable group.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms among Journalists Repeatedly Covering COVID-19 News.

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in many journalists repeatedly covering stories related to human suffering. This study investigates whether these journalists experienced higher rates of psychological distress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depressive symptoms than those who have been working during the pandemic yet covering stories other than COVID-19 and aims to identify what factors may protect journalists from developing trauma-related symptoms. We assessed journalists (n = 120) working during the COVID-19 pandemic using self-report measures. Journalists repeatedly covering COVID-19 stories had significantly higher psychological distress (η2 = 0.04) and PTSD symptoms (η2 = 0.08), but not depression, compared to journalists who did not report on COVID-19. Rumination and numbing in response to unwanted memories predicted PTSD symptoms (R2 = 0.53) and may be risk factors for PTSD in this population. Unhelpful resilience appraisals distinguished journalists who reported on COVID-19 and who developed distressing re-experiencing symptoms from those who similarly reported on distressing material and who did not develop symptoms. Targeting resilience appraisals may be helpful in reducing re-experiencing symptoms after trauma exposure.

Post-traumatic stress, personal risk and post-traumatic growth among UK journalists.

Background: Journalists covering traumatic news events can develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, they may also experience perceived post-traumatic growth (PTG). The outcome may be affected by whether work-related traumatic stress has a degree of personal risk. Objective: To investigate the relationship between PTSD symptoms and PTG among journalists who experienced work-related trauma and to examine whether positive associations would exist between exposure to personal risk and PTG. Method: A web-based survey measuring post-traumatic stress symptoms and post-traumatic growth was completed by print and broadcast journalists (N = 69) working for UK-based media organizations. An open-ended question asked participants how media organizations can help to promote growth after work-related trauma. Results: The findings show a significant relationship between PTSD symptoms and PTG (p = 0.04). Journalists working in war-zones had significantly more PTSD symptoms (p < .001) and PTG scores (p < .001) than those who did not. Journalists who described their worst, work-related trauma as having a degree of personal, life-threatening risk, also reported higher levels of PTG than those who did not (p < .001). This was consistent across all PTG subscales. Conclusions: This study, the first to examine PTSD symptoms, personal risk and post-traumatic growth within journalists, suggests those working in conflict areas experience significantly higher levels of post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth, than those who do not. Those who experience personal risk also had high PTG levels. Media companies can help develop PTG by recognizing when personal risk plays a role in covering demanding assignments. Participants suggested organizations also needed to allow sufficient time for reflection and meaning-making for all those working in hostile environments.

Antecedentes: Los periodistas que cubren eventos noticiosos traumáticos pueden desarrollar síntomas de Trastorno de Estrés Postraumático (TEPT). Sin embargo, también pueden experimentar Crecimiento Postraumático percibido (PTG, por su sigla en inglés). El resultado puede ser afectado por la presencia de un grado de riesgo personal en el estrés traumático relacionado al trabajo.Objetivo: Investigar la relación entre los síntomas de TEPT y PTG entre los periodistas que experimentaron trauma relacionado al trabajo y examinar la existencia de asociaciones positivas entre la exposición a riesgo personal y PTG.Método: Periodistas de medios impresos y de difusión, que trabajaban en organizaciones de medios localizados en el Reino Unido (N = 69) completaron una encuesta en la web que midió síntomas de estrés postraumático y crecimiento postraumático. Se consultó a los participantes mediante una pregunta abierta cómo podrían las organizaciones de medios ayudar a promover el crecimiento después de un trauma relacionado al trabajo.Resultados: Los hallazgos muestran una relación significativa entre los síntomas de TEPT y PTG (p = 0.04). Los periodistas que trabajaban en zonas de guerra tuvieron significativamente más síntomas de TEPT (0 < .001) y puntajes de PTG (p < .001) que los que no lo hacían. Los periodistas que describieron su peor trauma relacionado al trabajo con un grado de riesgo personal, con amenaza a su vida, también reportaron mayores niveles de PTG que quienes no lo hicieron (p < .001). Esto fue consistente en todas las subescalas de PTG.Conclusiones: Este estudio, el primero en examinar los síntomas de TEPT, riesgo personal y crecimiento postraumático entre periodistas, sugiere que aquellos que trabajan en áreas en conflicto experimentan niveles significativamente mayores de estrés postraumático y crecimiento postraumático que quienes no lo hacían. Aquellos que experimentaron riesgo personal también tuvieron mayores niveles de PTG. Las compañías de medios pueden ayudar a desarrollar PTG reconociendo cuando el riesgo personal juega un rol al cubrir tareas exigentes. Los participantes sugirieron que las organizaciones también necesitaban conceder suficiente tiempo para la reflexión y construcción de significados para todos quienes trabajan en ambientes hostiles.