Assessment report
Fear, trauma and local journalists
Researchers have shown how journalists, particularly war correspondents, are affected by the work they do. But there has been little examination of the effects on local journalists or fixers for international media who live and work covering violence, conflicts or disasters that impact them directly.
International reporting on conflicts, such as those in Yemen and Afghanistan, are increasingly the result of work done primarily by local journalists. Foreign news bureaus have been closed and fewer international correspondents report on these conflicts as they are deemed simply too dangerous to send in internationals.
This comes at a price. 95 per cent of journalists killed in armed conflict are locally based journalists (UN News, 2015). While there has been increasing focus on the physical and digital safety issues these journalists face, there has been less attention towards the need for psychosocial support.
Researchers have shown how journalists, particularly war correspondents, are affected by the work they do (Feinstein et al., 2002). But there has been little examination of the effects on local journalists or fixers for international media who live and work covering violence, conflicts or disasters that impact them directly.
This paper, written by Michelle Betz for IMS, will discuss the cross-country lessons of psychosocial support that have been used in different contexts such as the Middle East, Asia and Latin America and offer considerations in conducting further research into this area moving forward.
Further reading: In this blog post Michelle Betz talks about what ignited her interest in journalism and trauma.
