‘Moments of respite have never been more important’
Dr. Anthony Feinstein used to study the effects of the Iraq war and the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the mental health of journalists.
His focus in the past few months has shifted to a new traumatic event, one that’s still ongoing: the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the reporters and editors covering the global health crisis.
Feinstein, a neuropsychiatrist and professor at the University of Toronto, was among the speakers on a panel titled “Mental Health and COVID-19 Coverage” on Thursday’s opening day of the Carleton University virtual conference Journalism in the Time of Crisis.
The other speakers on the panel, which was moderated by Carleton University professor Matthew Pearson — a leading Canadian researcher on the intersection of trauma and journalism — were North Shore News reporter Jane Seyd; Kiran Nazish, founding director of the New York-based Coalition for Women in Journalism; and Jad Shahrour, a Lebanese filmmaker, writer and activist with the Samir Kassir Foundation.
The four panelists discussed numerous ways in which journalists can be supported in doing their jobs while dealing with the stress and trauma of reporting during a pandemic.
“COUNSELLING WORKS”
Feinstein paired up with academic colleague Meera Selva to study the toll the pandemic has been taking on members of the news profession. Among the journalists they surveyed, the rate of clinically significant anxiety was 25 per cent, which Feinstein called “very high” compared to pre-pandemic rates. They observed a similar upward trend in the rates of depression and PTSD.
However, journalists who had accepted counselling from their news organizations were significantly less anxious and depressed, said Feinstein. As such, he said he believes employers have a moral responsibility to provide mental health services to their journalists.
“If you’re going to ask your men and women to take on a demanding, potentially dangerous and risky job, then you’ve got to basically ensure that you’ve got resources to help them should they need it,” he said.
Comparing psychological impairment to a broken leg, Feinstein said no one would ever “tell them to suck it up. You go along to a hospital and you get your broken leg attended to. So when it comes to psychological difficulties, why would you not approach it with the same level of attention and care?”
Nazish, who has spent 2020 as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Brandon University, added that it is not only established newsrooms that need these resources. “Journalism unions need to have mental health support for freelancers, press clubs need to have mental health support resources for freelancers.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF NETWORKING
The panelists also pointed out the relief that can come with sharing their stories and feelings with others in the same line of work. The Coalition for Women in Journalism has connected reporters around the world to share advice on staying safe and other aspects of their work, but according to Nazish there was a second benefit to these connections.
“Being connected with other reporters not only helped with logistical information, being able to share resources and advice, but also worked as a great support system for women reporters who are facing anxiety,” she said.
Shahrour said his experience participating in the panel itself had a similar effect.
“One of the best trauma treatments for me is just sharing my feelings, sharing my experience in Lebanon with another journalist at the other side of the Earth,” he said.
RESPITE AS A FORM OF RESILIENCE
When Jane Seyd was interviewing the daughter of the first man who died from COVID-19 in Canada, everything happened very quickly. Although reaching grieving relatives can be one of the most challenging assignments faced by journalists, there’s often little opportunity to prepare for the encounter or to consider the potential impact on the interviewee.
“It wasn’t as though I or actually anybody else on that beat had time to think a lot about how we were going to approach it,” she said.
Nazish also recognized that journalists often haven’t been afforded the time to really process things during the pandemic.
“There are places where journalists don’t have the time to have panic attacks,” she said. “Journalists are really busy covering the political crises of what their governments are doing, and being censored, and then also trying to combat misinformation while trying to do their job and taking care of their families.”
Shahrour described a similar phenomenon, as well.
“You need to be a robot. You need to put your feelings aside and work ethically to cover all these events,” he said.
All this pushing aside of feelings and only focusing on the job at hand may sound noble, but often results in journalists feeling the mental toll of traumatizing events after the fact.
“Your moments of respite have never been more important,” said Feinstein.
He had some additional advice for journalists.
“Put your energies into those things that you can control,” he said. “Small things like your sleep, your appetite, your exercise, your social contacts — your moments of respite is a form of resilience.”
Find the whole panel discussion here.
