Journalism as the fourth emergency service: Building trauma and resilience training into journalism education
Call for Chapters
Peter Lang – Publication date: December 2023-January 2024
/Editors: Lisa Bradley and Emma Heywood, University of Sheffield/
Calling psychologists, academics, media experts, and professionals in journalism-related trauma!
Journalists have often been considered the “fourth emergency service”, first on the scene, alongside paramedics, fire and police, running towards danger rather than away, and providing independent, veritable and crucial information in the public interest. And yet, unlike frontline workers, little, if any, counselling or training is offered to journalists on how to deal with the horrors they witness, the trauma they absorb from being at the forefront of human suffering, and limited, if any, training is given to student journalists on how to prepare themselves for trauma, be it from war reporting to the everyday “death knock”. New research is demonstrating a rise in post-traumatic stress disorder amongst journalists for the “everyday” trauma they encounter and a noticeable increase, or reluctance from new journalists, to undertake emotionally distressing assignments. Editors in industry are now calling for educators to invest in curricula that centre around understanding how to cope with the distress and trauma, and this is vital to facilitate the work journalists do hold power to account.
This edited book offers a blend of academic research studies, evidence-based practitioner interviews, and teaching resources, drawing on the experiences of journalists and academics nationally and internationally. The book investigates the causes and effects of trauma reporting on journalists themselves and provides a toolkit to train journalists, students of journalism, and practitioners how to build resilience and prepare themselves for trauma. It draws on national and international experiences enabling readers to gain valuable insight into a range of contemporary issues and the contexts in which they may work.
Abstracts are sought for proposed chapters that fit within the themes of the book listed below. The abstract should be no longer than 250 words and set out the main content and approach of the proposed chapter. Chapters should provide theoretical discussions, in-depth accounts of practitioners’ experiences, and/or overviews of key concepts, issues and debates of relevance to the topic. Each chapter will provide a way into a topic, with pointers to key ideas and literature. Chapters will follow a similar structure, with key points identified and suggestions made for further reading and teaching resources at the end of the chapter.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to
- Specialist insight into the causes and effects of trauma and their
significance to practising journalists and to students of journalism- proposals from trauma psychologists welcome
- Psychological trauma caused amongst journalists by cyberbullying
- Psychological trauma caused amongst journalists, more generally
(specialist insight into the causes and effects of trauma and their
significance to practising journalists and also to students of
journalism) – proposals from trauma psychologists welcome - Trauma amongst video journalists or reviewers of conflict material
- Trauma in war reporting for example, experiences of journalists
suffering from PTSD as a result of war reporting (witnessing the
suffering of victims and survivors in Ukraine, Syria, for example) - Trauma in crises (international or national)
- Vicarious trauma in the courtroom
- Sexual trauma suffered by women journalist (as survivors and/or as
journalists)
Please submit abstract proposals of approximately 250 words to (l.v.bradley /at/ sheffield.ac.uk) and (e.heywood /at/ sheffield.ac.uk) by Monday 15th November 2022. The authors will be notified by 2nd December 2022. Final chapters are to be 4000-5000 words.
Important Dates
- 15th November 2022: Submission of abstracts by authors
- 2nd December 2022: Notification of Acceptance
- 1st March 2023: Full Draft Chapter Submission
- 14 April 2023: Review Returned
- 1st June 2023: Final review and editing
- 1 July 2023: Final Chapter Submission