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According to Statista, 38% of Americans have “accidentally shared fake news,” and only 23% are “very confident in their ability to recognize fake news.” In this age of information warfare, well-sourced and ethical journalism plays a vital role in our democracy. Faculty in journalism programs are tasked with preparing their students for a tough and ever-shifting job market. Furthermore, once employed, journalists may be asked to cover developing and potentially traumatizing events, such as natural disasters, protests, or mass shootings. Despite these and other pressures, 77% of journalists surveyed by Pew Research Center said that they would still choose their career all over again. In collaboration with a licensed trauma therapist and a journalism professor, this article suggests best practices for journalism faculty members who seek to prepare students in a realistic and trauma-informed manner.
Job Preparation for Journalism Students
A Georgetown University study found that the vast majority of journalism majors did not immediately find positions in the field. When it comes to speaking with students about the job market, Joshua Mills, the recently retired chair of the department of journalism and the writing professions at Baruch College, states that “Candor and data are useful. Various organizations publish annual studies of wages in journalism. Students need to learn…a lot of how-to’s about freelancing, and by-the-piece labor…” Mills suggests as well that faculty invite “guest speakers who [freelance].” Ideally, departments should help coordinate and give students credit for paid professional internships, as well as brief them about graduate school, fellowship opportunities, and alternative career options.
Contemporary jobs in journalism often require multimedia production expertise, from social media management to radio reporting. Even if they do not need to produce non-textual media, journalists must be comfortable collaborating with photographers and graphic artists. Faculty members, therefore, should ask students to create collaborative multimodal stories. Students should be encouraged to take specialized courses in media production that might help them be more competitive in the job market. Since many journalists begin their careers by freelancing, having specialized media production knowledge could help new graduates support themselves in a related field like user experience research until they are able to secure a full-time journalism job.
Mills states that “It’s essential that hands-on journalism courses simulate newsroom environments and pressures — that students be forced onto the streets for shoe-leather reporting, that they learn to interview not just strangers but hostile sources as well (some faculty forbid interviews with or articles about friends or family members), that they are subject to rigorous editing and required to rewrite and rewrite again.” Students should practice pitching ideas, critiquing one another, adjusting their topics, doing original research, and professionally fact-checking.
Minority Representation in Journalism
Minorities are still extremely underrepresented in journalism, and minority journalists may face additional challenges, from hidden and explicit racial bias to the pressure of representing their race in their workplace and their reporting. Faculty can help prepare all students for racial issues by assigning readings by minority journalists and inviting guest speakers who have faced pressure because of their minority status. Non-minority students should be asked to reflect on minorities’ experiences and to think about how they, as non-minorities, can help ensure that their workplace is welcoming and supportive for all.
Trauma-Informed Journalism Pedagogy
Because of the nature and demands of their work, journalists are often at risk for mental health issues. A study by the American Journalist found that 53% of journalists had experienced verbal abuse online (38% offline), 20% had experienced threats of violence online (14% offline), and 11% had received death threats online (6% offline). Research by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University suggests that 80 to 100% of journalists “have been exposed to a work-related traumatic event.” Additionally, depending on where they are assigned and their role, between 4 and 59% of journalists may be experiencing PTSD. Dr. Lea Didion, a clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma therapy, states that “Trauma reactions, anxiety, and burnout are common mental health issues that affect some journalists. Given the nature of the work, the current climate towards and rhetoric being spread about journalists, and the lack of support for journalists it is not surprising that these are the mental health issues being faced. There is also a lack of adequately trained mental health clinicians who understand journalist culture and the unique challenges they are facing, so finding good help is an additional layer in a field where struggling is already seen as a hindrance to the work.”
There are steps that faculty members can take to inform journalism students about these risks. Dr. Didion suggests that “All journalism professors should be teaching about secondary traumatic stress (STS), vicarious traumatization (VT), and relentless self-care as well as teaching out compassion satisfaction and vicarious resilience that comes from doing something we love and are called to do. It’s vital to normalize that journalists with marginalized and targeted identities will be impacted differently and their voices should be highlighted and uplifted. Students should also be informed about organizations like the Journalist Trauma Support Network (JTSN) that provides resources for journalists who have experienced trauma and a directory of therapists who have been trained to work with journalists in a culturally-affirming way.”
Informing journalism students about work-related trauma can also help lead them into conversations about what it means to interview people who have experienced trauma. The Dart Center has detailed guidelines on best practices for trauma-informed journalism. Dr. Didion notes that “There are six trauma-informed core principles that would be valuable for anyone who is working with others (since most people have experienced trauma in their lifetime these should be widely applied)…” and “…there are many organizations who would be more than happy to give presentations at schools on trauma-informed approaches, STS, VT, burnout, and self-care. Also, I would strongly suggest that aspiring journalists talk to mentors who hold marginalized identities, as there is no substitute for — and better learning than — listening to those who have felt the impacts of trauma every day.”
While informing students about the risks inherent in this profession, faculty members should also explain the essential value of and need for ethical journalism. Without on-the-ground and honest reporting, citizens and democracies are effectively in the dark. In an age where foreign and domestic entities are actively waging misinformation campaigns, journalists are needed more than ever.
