Journalists working in newsrooms often face trauma viewing distressing content. Training, support, and digital techniques can protect their mental health.
Field reporting can be dangerous in terms of the trauma and stress experienced covering breaking news, but newsroom teams face risks too.
Journalists who work with raw footage filed by reporters and camera crews can experience what is known as secondary trauma (sometimes called secondary traumatic stress – STS) . So too can those whose job it is to sift through user-generated content (UGC) from social media feeds.
Because they are repeatedly exposed to scenes of suffering and distress, they need to apply the same coping mechanisms that help field reporters process their experiences on location.
Secondary traumatic stress
Much of this work is done in isolation, staring at screens for long periods with no team interaction. Over time, repeated digital exposure can lead to emotional exhaustion, sleep problems, or detachment — all signs of digital or secondary trauma.
Secondary trauma is not a new thing. When I was a newspaper reporter I had to file copy (dictate my story over the phone to a typist). I was reporting on an industrial dispute. A wall had collapsed crushing two men.
I described in graphic details what I had seen as I dictated my story down the phone. The person on the other end went quiet. “We can’t say that”, she explained. The next day the person taking down my story told me that what I had dictated to them had disturbed them to the point that they had a nightmare.
Some years later, when I was a radio reporter, I was covering a European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus at the Heysel Stadium. My job as a news reporter was to report from the terraces on any crowd trouble.
What I witness, and how I became involved in the story, is set out in our ethical scenario ‘Covering a tragedy‘.
I got injured covering that story as police moved in on the crowd (clearly not knowing that I was a journalist). But what was more harrowing was that I saw people dying. I had never experience death before.
I found a phone booth close to the stadium from where I was able to send audio and my commentary back to my radio station.
I later discovered that the young newsroom assistant who processed my material before passing it on to the newsdesk was so traumatised by the sounds and commentary she received that she had to be given time off to recover.
Luckily, my managers were aware of what I and the other team members had gone through and offered support.
Training and preparedness
Preventing secondary trauma starts with training. Everyone involved in sourcing, verifying, or editing distressing content should be helped to understand the impact such work can have.
Training is the responsibility of newsroom managers who should offer training in the following areas:
- Recognising trauma: Understanding how the body and brain react to distressing images and help staff identify early warning signs.
- Digital safety: Demonstrate techniques for safely viewing disturbing material such as limiting their time to shorter sessions, muting the sound, or turning screens to black and white.
- Looking out for others: Train all journalists in the newsroom to be alert and to check in with anyone who appears withdrawn or anxious.
- Seeking help: Make sure everyone knows how to access internal and external support, such as employee assistance programmes or trauma counsellors.
Training should not be a one-time exercise. Repeat sessions regularly and discuss emotional resilience during editorial meetings or debriefs.
Coping strategies
If newsroom managers don’t offer training, journalists can use small, practical techniques to protect themselves when handling difficult visual material.
- Set limits: Work in short bursts with regular breaks away from screens.
- Mix tasks: Alternate verification work with lighter production tasks to reduce emotional fatigue.
- Stay connected: Avoid working entirely alone. Take time to talk to colleagues, even briefly, during tough assignments.
- Stay self-aware: Emotional numbness can signal burnout. Take regular breaks or go for short walks to take your mind off disturbing footage.
- Reset after exposure: Once you finish reviewing distressing content, step outside, stretch, and breathe deeply before returning to other tasks.
Management’s responsibility
The responsibility for protecting staff lies with management. Editors must recognise that prolonged exposure to distressing material is a workplace hazard, not a personal weakness.
Managers can make a difference by:
- Rotating duties so that no one person repeatedly handles violent or graphic material.
- Encouraging teamwork in verification tasks to avoid isolation. Never leave anyone alone with images if you know they are likely to be upsetting.
- Normalising support by talking openly about stress management and make counselling resources easy to access. Ensure you lose the macho culture that prevents people being honest about their true feelings.
- Allowing recovery time after major breaking stories. Realise that your journalists have been under stress and that if they don’t have adequate recovery time they might be permanently damaged.
- Tracking wellbeing by regularly checking staff who handle UGC or raw feeds as part of their role.
Distancing techniques
For journalists who are regularly exposed to traumatic content, simple viewing practices can help create psychological distance:
- Reduce the sensory load: Mute audio unless it is vital for verification.
- Shrink the window: View videos in a smaller window to remind the brain that it is not unfolding in real time.
- Limit exposure: Avoid reviewing graphic content before sleep or meals. Stick to intervals – for example, 20 minutes of reviewing followed by a five‑minute break.
- Use grayscale mode: Turn your monitor to grayscale (black and white) when verifying location or movement rather than colour details. This helps reduce emotional intensity.
Building a healthy newsroom culture
Protecting journalists from digital trauma is a shared responsibility. Encourage open conversations about mental health so that discussions about stress and fatigue are normal and stigma-free.
A newsroom that supports psychological safety is a newsroom that sustains good journalism. Compassion for sources and audiences should extend equally to colleagues. In the long run, caring for the people who tell the stories helps protect the integrity of news output.
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