Trauma and Grief in Australian Journalism Essay Example for Free

Trauma and affliction in Australian Journalism screenSince November 22, 1800, when George Howe arrived in Australia and started production on Australias initiative newspaper, the Sydney Gazette, much has changed in the nations journalism industry (Morris, 2002). The rapid boost of information technology and advances in the Australias directional system brought forth a radical and innovative breed of young journalists, both too eager to partake in constituent the community by divulging the truth.In present-day Australia, journalism takes course in virtually all aspects of daily living. It thrives on reporting breaking showcases much(prenominal) as asbestos poisoning and backyard abortions, to bush fires in South Australia (Morris, 2002). The death and injury toll for journalists sent out to c everyplace armed conflicts has never been higher (Feinstein, 2003) yet any(prenominal) media practitioners flock to the biggest story going without wavering. Whether from the fron t line, embedded with invading forces, or entrenched d proclaim in a nuclear fallout shelter, journalists all verbalize they nourish a sense of duty to their public, to tell the real story, often without thinking about the toll getting that story prat, does and will take on them psycheally (Feinstein, 2003).Reporters, especially those assigned in conflicts and disasters are as vulnerable to, and learn strive and suffering similar to that felt by harmtic event professionals, such as firefighters and combat soldiers (Hight, 1999). Foreign newspersons often piece of work alone in the field, with limited consular and often no physical swan (Feinstein, 2003). The results understructure be tragic when stress rises to debilitating levels and goes untreated. Journalists may abuse drugs or alcoholic drink and struggle in their marriages and personal relationships. They may endure, often silently, such fall out problems as lack of sleep, hyper-arousal or emotional numbness (Plac e, 1992).Media men were almodal values among the first to arrive in accidents and crime scenes, often ahead of the ambulance and lawmakers. They will be greeted with fresh casualties and survivors moaning in intolerable agony. Much to a greater extent than this, they could witness those left behind, still shocked and stunned, whose agony seems insurmountable than those enduring physical pain. This causes the journalist, especially those who with more sensitive emotions, to feel the victims pain and loss as if it were their own (Hight, 1999). Journalists tend to conjure up isolation and guilt feelings and become anxious, thinking they too could put through and through such fate in the future. From this stems loss of sleep and increased feelings of stress.Journalists usually encounter the wall of grief first at the beginning of their careers. With little or no training, they are assigned the police beat. They learn and gain experience by covering one tragedy. Victims coverage become s a repetitive part of journalists careers that builds into more than just memories.(Hight, 1999).Distress from detriment builds up in a person subsequently they experience an stressful event outside the range of normal every-day human race experience, such as a serious threat to his/her life, physical integrity or serious threat/harm to children, spouse, relatives or friends more often for journalists, sightedness a nonher person seriously injured or killed in an accident or by physical violence (Feinstein, 2003). The more traumatic experiences a person has the greater and longer lasting their feelings of stress, and anxiety and risk of stress educed mental health disorders (Hight, 1999).Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder, or mental illness develops after exposure to a traumatic event or ordeal in which grave physical or mental harm occurred or was threatened (Creamer, Burgess, McFarlane, 2001). Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include only are non limited to violent assaults, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, vehicle accidents, rape, physical abuse and military combat, all of which are witnessed and/or reported on by journalists regularly (Creamer, Burgess, McFarlane, 2001). PTSD sufferers have trouble functioning in their jobs and personal relationships and sufferers children can withal be affected by their condition, reporting difficulty in school, becoming isolated and withdrawn from friction matchs and developing phobias (Creamer, Burgess, McFarlane, 2001). PTSD affects people with varying degrees of severity, depending on the constitution and number of traumatic experiences they have encountered and is diagnosed when symptoms last more than one month (Allen, 2003). Untreated, PTSD is un analogously to disappear (Allen, 2003).In Australia, university students taking up journalism courses are often told that PTSD exists and that they will have to cope up with grief/trauma but are seldom given practical grapple skills as part of their degree/studies, with the exception of some top-ranking universities, such as the JSchool in Brisbane, Central Queensland University and University of the Sunshine Coast (Graduate Careers Australia, 2006). The present state of journalism education in Australia is disjointed. Institutions offering this discipline offer an impulsive goture of practical training and professional concepts, from the realistic ones to the abstractions of mixed disciplines, such as art and abstractive sciences (Duckett, 2004).Large scale tertiary education began in the 1970s with the development of colleges of advanced education, such as the RMIT Advanced College, which sought to develop vocational streams of study. These colleges in the long run became universities, continuing their involvement in journalism education (Duckett, 2004).However, for a journalism student to be easily adaptable to the trauma he/she may experience in the field, university life should prepare him for t he real challenge of the industry. Although more courses were established with industry approval and with some degree of industry control or input, the self-accrediting nature of Australian universities has seen a distancing of modern tertiary institutions from the news media industry (Henningham, 2003).This makes University journalism more of theoretical course, where students sit in a large lecture for deuce hours, and then after contendds, having a 30-minute tutorial where theyre one of 50 students. Reporters often work alone in the field, witnessing death, violence and enduring psychological and physical stresses without the support and security of home. Unfortunately most Australian university degrees do not provide student journalists with adequate preparation and training for this unavoidable aspect of their jobs (Henningham, 2003).What we see is that many journalism degrees are very theoretical they do have much academic rigor and critical thought which probably belongs in a degree. solely the mistake is to think that will produce a work-ready journalist, because the two things are all in all different. One is work training, I suppose, and the other is academic study. Theyre two completely different things. And I think the universities may have lost their way a little in their direction. Are they trying to offer trade courses or degrees? The two things are very different (Duckett, 2004).There is no guarantee that Australian journalists are really prepared and trained to cope with their role as witnesses to trauma and disseminator of information, analysis and opinion about itJournalism is a challenging and interesting career offering variety and diversity in work tasks and roles. In addition to a broad general comprehension and a thorough knowledge of current affairs, successful journalists should also have personal qualities such as determination and emotional resilience, and the ability to cope up with trauma, while preserving the necessary emotion s in his/her stories, for most these skills do not come naturally and must(prenominal) be taught and developed (Harrison, 1999).Many journalists work long and irregular hours, with evening and late night work common. An assignment cannot be dropped just because a swop has finished a journalist must see it through to the end. Often they are called back to work to cover an unexpected development, and they are frequently requisite to work when other people are not-at night, on weekends, on public holidays etc. The unusual work hours can make social life difficult. in addition the open-ended work hours, on that point are also pressures to meet tight deadlines and to ensure the facts presented are accurate.Despite scientific knowledge of trauma and PTSD for over twenty years, only in the past several years have major news organizations begun to establish programs to address work related trauma, grief and stress (Creamer, Burgess, McFarlane, 2001). Progress has been made in the face of skepticism and resistance among many journalists and editors. Still, there are too a few(prenominal) scientific studies of trauma and journalists, too few trauma services for journalists, and reluctant and slowly growing recognition of the effects grief and trauma has on journalists by news outlets (Creamer, Burgess, McFarlane, 2001). In many instances, journalists are unprepared for its impact, and they have limited knowledge and skills to cope with work related trauma.Journalism is far behind other professions, such as educational centering and fire and police departments, in recognizing trauma as a serious issue that must be addressed. The myth still exists that journalists shouldnt essential trauma programs because journalists are supposed to be tough as nails (Place, 1992). When it comes to trauma, journalism sometimes appears to be one of the last macho professions (Place, 1992).Media companies profit on the talents of their journalists, so they should induct on maintai ning their proper mental health and well-being. News companies can quite inexpensively develop effective trauma awareness and preparation programs and should acknowledge trauma as reality and a concern not as an affliction of the weak or a career stopper. News conglomerates must also regard trauma services as an essential part of staff well-being, similar to other programs such as workplace health and safety.Information, practical training, hugger-mugger counselling and de-briefing services should be made available to journalists by employers free of charge whenever they feel the need to access them. Developing a policy on reporting crises, such as rotating reporters and peer de-briefing, could also prove helpful and is another strategy media outlets could easily implement with little economic or imagery strain (Castle, 1999). Media outlets must make trauma training part of their ongoing training for all their journalists to ensure they stay in the profession and do not burn out o r develop damaging conditions such as PTSD.Peer support programs are not new to people who work in the front line emergency services. Police, ambulance, and other similar professionals who are first to arrive at scenes have received education and training to developed techniques for traffic with trauma and grief they inevitably encounter during their work (Castle, 1999). In the past people were told to make debriefing appointments with psychological professionals, however recent research has shown that peer de-briefing is much more effective, because it takes place in a much less formal, sterile way and has less stigma attached to it (Castle, 1999).Newsrooms are renowned for bravado, with journalist often saying Im okay, Im tough, Im not affected. Those trained to recognize stress, and PTSD know one of the first signs of being affected is denial, and would see this as the first sign of a need for intervention.Peer support models from emergency services could be adapted and applied to Australian newsrooms to the benefit and success of Australian journalists as they have been to emergency workers (Place, 1992). This would see not only the journalists and camera people, trained to cope with grief and trauma but editors and telephone staff as well. This way every member of the team can be of assistance in recognizing, and auctioning early interventions where necessary. Training all members of the news room also means there will always be peer available to help and de-brief whenever the need arises.The first psychological study of war journalists, A Hazardous Profession War, Journalists, and Psychopathology, was print in the American Journal of Psychiatry, September 2002. The study used self-report questionnaires and interviews to gather data from two groups 140 war journalists and 107 journalists who had never covered war. The study cogitate that war journalists have significantly more psychiatric difficulties than journalists who do not report on war. The stud y also foundHigher rates of alcohol use (14 units of alcohol per week 7.6 for non-war reporters) Intrusive thoughts, replay of memories and hyper-arousal were common Low awareness of trauma Social difficulties, such as re-adjusting to civil society, reluctance to mix with friends, troubled relationships, and embarrassing startled responsesThe researchers recommended that these results should alert news organizations that significant psychological distress does occur in many war journalists and has devastating and significant impacts if untreated, as is sadly, often the case.Despite the fact many journalists, particularly war journalists suffer PTSD with similar severity as war veterans, the Australian government does not provide them with treatment programs similar to those established by the Department of Veterans Affairs (DFA) for War veterans (DVA, www.dva.gov.au). DFA entitlements such as private psychiatric and allied health services, intensifier treatment programs for PTSD an d a range of individual and group services should be extended to media practitioners directly involved in covering armed conflicts and other disasters (DVA, www.dva.gov.au). Further, all journalists should be provided with free access to professional psychological helping services as part of their employment packages.When examining grief and trauma in journalism, focal point should not be confined to the newsrooms and behind cameras. Journalism isnt always about the journalists, its also about stories they write, and the people behind these stories. Unconsciously, a reporters intrusion into an event may be untimely, and the respondent may offer several and unexpected reactions.There are ethical issues that a journalist may wish to consider when reporting on traumatic events. Adhering to the MEAA code of ethics (MEAA, www.alliance.org.au) and maintaining professionalism under pressure will ensure journalists are comfortable with their own actions when reflected upon and will help th em deal with personal feelings of guilt, responsibility and doubt.Before interviewing a person who has witnessed trauma, or a victim of violence, it is important to think about whether it is rigorously necessary to interview the person immediately. They may be in shock, disoriented, or frightened. They may feel either guilty or elated that they have survived if others have not.This means that they may not be thinking clearly when they are asked for an interview, and that undergoing the process may bring up some unexpected feelings, emotions and behaviors offensive or threatening to the journalist, grief and trauma training would prepare journalists for these potential situations and impart practical skills for dealing with such (Place, 1992). As an ethical and professional journalist, check what interviewees would wish to achieve by speaking publicly about traumatic experiences.Practicing and student journalists alike need to move away from traditional macho thinking regarding trau ma and grief, its place in their work and the potential affects it can have on their lives. They need to understand that stress, anxiety and PTSD are real and that no matter how burning their desire to disseminate the truth or the story, they are not superhuman and that it is normal and ok to seek/receive help. Journalists, as professionals need to be trained and alert to the symptoms and physical and psychological dangers grief and trauma of their work brings into their lives. Ten years ago a lot of veteran war correspondents and editors laughed at the idea that reporters should go for safety training should go put on flak jackets and practice being shot at and stuff like that, however it has since been proven that such training is not only beneficial, it is lifesaving (Place, 1992).Psychiatry is a mend art, applied to individuals who suffer. There is no common path to healing after enduring human cruelty. But most individuals who do recover enough hope and worth to enjoy existence find meaning in their lives -and meaning in life itself. They escape that literal, factual and shattering treatment of personal reality. Most find the creation of life-enhancing myth a preferable preference to existential despair. Many employ denial, delusion, and dissociation along the way. Therapists often help victims avoid intolerable memory (Ochberg, 1999).Journalism is not a healing art, but rather our best effort at undistorted perception of reality. It is neither psychiatry nor myth-making. It is the telling of those traumatic events, making a channel for the exit of those emotions, and recording these stories into tangible aids for the future (Ochberg, 1999).Paradoxically, an energizing element of trauma, is that can offer transformative healing for individuals, such as the case with peer debriefing, as it can also offer for society at large (Place, 1992).As the medias role has expanded, its responsibility to media practitioners has expanded. As academics and business le aders continue to understand and recognize the powerful bias of the mind, the medias responsibility to in incorporate new knowledge regarding mental health and journalist wellbeing also expands. This is an invitation to put trauma, its impact, and the ability to be healed and transformed through it on the global agenda and to bring its awareness to the ones who are more frequently subjected to it, whether due to his/her course of living (such as the media men, etc.) or due to some unavoidable circumstances of nature.The media mirrors society and society mirrors the media. This interrelationship takes on a more pointed meaning when related to trauma. Media members, trauma researchers, and clinicians are invited to engage in discourse on the expanding field of trauma knowledge. The media are the eyes, ears, and voice of our collective body. We must trust them support them to cope so they can continue their roles as disseminators of truth, information, corporate/government watchdogs, and of course, the fourth estate.ReferencesA Hazardous Profession War, Journalists, and Psychopathology, American Journal of Psychiatry, September 2002Anthony Feinstein 2003, Dangerous Lives War and the Men and Women Who Report It, October 1, 2003Australian Broadcasting judicature 1990, Violence on television, Sydney ABTCreamer M, Burgess P, McFarlane AC 2001. Post-traumatic stress disorder findings from the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-being. Psychol Med 2001 31 1237-1247.Di Powell 1990, Media Intrusion into Grief, Media Information Australia, No.57, August, pp.2429Frank Morris 2002, The birth of the book in Terra Australis, April 26, 2002Frank M. Ochberg, MD 1999, Three Acts of Trauma News , Sacred Bearings Journal, April, 1999Joe Hight 1999, Journalists who cover victims risk hit The Wall , Daily Oklahoman , (Spring 1999)John Henningham 2003, Journalism sold short in media courses, The Australian (Media section), 23 October 2003Lucinda Duckett 2004, Jou rnalism Education Cultures of Journalism/Lifelong Learning series, piano tuner National, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 26 June 2004MEEA Code of Ethics, http//www.alliance.org.au/tech-support.htmlNic Place 1992, Journalists and trauma The need for counselling, Australian Studies in Journalism, Vol.1, pp.113158Phillip Castle 1999, Journalism and trauma Proposals for change, AsiaPacific MediaEducator, cater No. 7, July-DecemberShirley Harrison 1999, Disasters and the Media Managing Crisis Communications, Macmillan, London.