The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #56454

Roger A. Simpson, PhD, Department of Communication, University of Washington, Box 353740, Seattle, WA 98195, 206-543-0405, newsboy@u.washington.edu, Katherine J. Hall, MC, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Box 354695, Seattle, WA 98195, and Ian Stewart, MS, San Francisco Bureau, Associated Press, 303 Second Street, Suite 680, San Francisco, CA 94107.

An unwritten code among journalists holds that no assignment, no matter how brutal, can defy one's capacity to take a photograph, gather facts, and produce a story. It is part of the code that the journalist then proceeds to the next assignment without acknowledging or treating the emotional toll of the tragic event. Is it really possible that reporters and photographers suffer no emotional consequences when they document death, injury, and pain? Can journalists truly "compartmentalize" or repress the horror while they go about the routine of producing the news? There is little research about how stress is linked to the exposure of reporters and photographers to violence, death, and physical injury. Recent research, including that of our team, found that journalists on the front lines are strikingly similar to public-safety workers in both their experiences and their emotional responses. Unlike their counterparts in public-safety agencies and mental-health programs, journalists and their employers give little attention to the terrible accretion of the effects of such work. Indeed, the culture of daily newspaper journalism resists such attention. The presentation will include input from an injured worker.

Learning Objectives:

• - Understand similarities between working conditions of journalists and those of public safety workers who are routinely offered counseling after stressful incidents
• - Identify areas for public health intervention, including training and support
• - Appreciate how newsroom norms may interfere with such interventions

Keywords: Occupational Health, Mental Health

Related Web page: www.dartcenter.org/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: none
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.