Journalism often exposes reporters to trauma. This workshop offers techniques and tools to manage stress and protect both a reporter’s work and wellbeing.
It looks at how reporting affects journalists psychologically and how strengthening mental resilience can improve both performance and sustainability in the newsroom.
The sessions encourage open conversations about mental health, challenge long-standing taboos, and provide practical strategies for self-care and supportive newsroom leadership.
The workshop is presented in two formats, both using the same source material from Media Helping Media and Fojo Media Institute – they are ‘Journalism, trauma and stress‘, and Strengthening journalism from the inside out. We suggest offering the material to participants before the workshop giving them enough time to read and digest the concepts discussed.
The first is a two-hour workshop designed for those who are already familiar with the topic but who would like to deepen their understanding. The second is a four-hour, half-day workshop for those who are new to the topic.
Trainers are invited to select and adapt the format that best meets the needs of those they are training. For the activity sections of the workshop trainers should source locally relevant material when examples of the topic being covered are needed.
Workshop outline 1: Two-hour session
Timetable
- 09:00 – 09:45: First session
- 09:45 – 10:00: Break
- 10:00 – 10:45: Second session
- 10:45 – 11:00: Final discussion and assignment
09:00 – 09:45: First session: Identifying trauma in the field
- Aims: To distinguish between general work stress and traumatic exposure, specifically in local or conflict-affected contexts.
- Presentation: Draw on the Fojo experience in Ethiopia to explain how community conflict and unstable security situations make trauma-informed journalism essential. Define secondary traumatisation – where journalists absorb the emotional residue of the violence and suffering they record.
- Activity: Using a local news scenario (e.g., a recent civil disturbance), journalists must list three potential trauma triggers (sensory experiences like specific smells or sounds) that could cause a colleague to experience a flashback during follow-up reporting.
- Discussion: Why do many journalists treat these challenges as individual burdens rather than professional and institutional responsibilities?
10:00 – 10:45: Second session: Building a culture of care
- Aims: To move from a macho culture of silence to one of proactive peer support and ethical sensitivity.
- Presentation: Discuss the ethical tightrope of reporting on victims. Explain moral injury – the psychological distress caused by witnessing or being forced to participate in actions that go against a person’s moral values. Introduce the concept of soft support (peer debriefing) as a low-cost, high-impact tool for newsrooms.
- Activity: A fictitious scenario: An editor insists on using graphic images of a tragedy for impact. A reporter feels this re-traumatises the victims. Participants must draft a short professional argument for a trauma-informed editorial approach that balances public interest with human dignity.
- Discussion: How can we ensure that local and freelance journalists, who often lack formal backing, are not left without support?
Workshop outline 2: Four-hour session
Timetable
- 09:00 – 10:00: First session
- 10:00 – 10:15: Break
- 10:15 – 11:15: Second session
- 11:15 – 11:30: Break
- 11:30 – 12:30: Third session
- 12:30 – 13:00: Final discussion and assignment
09:00 – 10:00: First session: The impact of cumulative exposure
- Aims: To understand how repeated exposure to small-scale traumatic events (accidents, local crime, user-generated content (UGC) builds up over time.
- Presentation: Use the MHM source to define cumulative exposure – the relentless assault on the psyche from multiple stories over a career. List physical symptoms (e.g., nausea, chest pain, sleep disorders) and emotional symptoms (e.g., hyper-vigilance, which is a state of being constantly on edge).
- Activity: Create a Timeline of Exposure for a fictitious local reporter. List five common assignments over a year (e.g., a fatal fire, a court case involving child abuse, a political riot). Participants must identify at which point burnout might lead to PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
- Discussion: How does the pressure to report quickly in the digital age increase the risk of psychological harm?
10:15 – 11:15: Second session: Practical self-care and resilience
- Aims: To equip participants with avoidance skills and coping mechanisms for after a hazardous assignment.
- Presentation: Present guidelines on control measures: keeping to routines, eating well, and finding things that make you laugh. Discuss the importance of grounding after witnessing graphic scenes.
- Activity: In pairs, participants should practice a voluntary debrief. One person acts as a journalist returning from a difficult story; the other practices compassionate listening without judgment, following the ‘compassion is more important than money’ principle from the MHM text.
- Discussion: How can journalists maintain their moral compass when their worldview is altered by the trauma they witness?
11:30 – 12:30: Third session: Institutionalising mental health support
- Aims: To identify the legal and moral obligations of newsroom management to protect employee mental health.
- Presentation: Discuss the Fojo model of embedding trauma education into university curricula. Explain that newsroom managers must lead from the top, demonstrating that vulnerability is not a sign of weakness and that admitting to stress will not damage a career.
- Activity: Participants are divided into Managers and Reporters.”They must co-create a Newsroom Wellbeing Charter that includes three points on safety protocols for traumatic content and two points on how to support staff who show signs of distress.
- Discussion: What are the legal obligations in your specific region for protecting the mental health of media workers as part of workplace safety?
Assignment
Participants must create a safety and wellbeing checklist for their next assignment. This must include:
- Pre-assignment: A plan for how to handle graphic material or high-stress interviews.
- During assignment: One technique to remain grounded.
- Post-assignment: A scheduled debrief with a colleague or mentor.
Materials needed for the workshop
- Digital or printed copies of the source articles: journalism, trauma and stress and strengthening journalism from the inside out.
- A list of local mental health resources or NGOs that offer support.
- Locally relevant case studies of reporting in challenging contexts.
Assessment
Participants will be assessed on their ability to identify the subtle signs of PTSD and their engagement in developing a peer-support framework that respects local cultural sensitivities.
Conclusion
Building a resilient media sector requires more than just technical skills; it requires emotional awareness and a commitment to the humanity of the journalist. By adopting the trauma-informed approaches discussed in this workshop, we move from treating stress as an individual failure to seeing it as a professional priority.
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